Fire and Ice
by Anderea
Summary: *ch. 2 rewrit* There are two: one who walked into the past to create hope for the future, and one who would rather keep the story of her life tightly shut. Strength and silence. Determination and indifference. Fire and ice. So what happens when they meet?
1. The Strangers

Disclaimer: DBZ does not belong to me. I am not making any money off this, etc, therefore it would be completely pointless to sue me over this one little fanfic. Also, to answer a question I've been asked about twenty times, no, I had never, ever read Ender's Game before writing this story. Whatever similarities between this fanfic and OSC's writings are purely coincidental, believe it or not.  
  
Fire and Ice  
written by Anderea  
speak2005@hotmail.com  
  
Chapter One, The Strangers  
  
  
She was scared. Her father was pointing, shouting, yelling instructions rapidly as he pushed her toward the takeoff pad. He had explained everything to her a few days ago, about their escape plan, about what they were going to do, but the reality--this earthshaking, groundbreaking reality--was so much more frightening. Her mother was typing in instructions, her slender fingers flying over the keyboard.  
  
"What's going on?" Her father shouted.  
  
"Malfunction!" Her mother yelled back, "The last tremor damaged a small part of the capsule. It's fixed now, but two-thirds of the air supply is gone."  
  
"You're kidding."  
  
"Would I be kidding at a time like this? Only one of us is going to be able to go."  
  
The father stared at his wife for a long time, absorbing the information. It was hard for him to believe that after three months of planning, something this ridiculous was happening at the crucial moment. He looked at his daughter for several seconds as the planet around them quivered and trembled. Then he shook his head and pointed one finger toward the door of the capsule, "Get in. Now."  
  
"Dad, no," She begged. "I don't want to go without you and mom. Please don't-"  
  
"Now," He repeated, the quiet voice having unmistakable power behind it.   
  
"Dad."  
  
He hit her over the head, once, knocking her unconscious. Then he picked up his daughter, holding her for the last time, and shook his head.  
  
"Listen to me," he whispered to her still form. "Someday, you'll be able to avenge our race, destroy the ones who so willingly destroyed us." He laid her on one of the three cots of the capsule. "Someday, you'll become a great warrior, the kind that people tell stories about for years after, the kind that I was never able to become. Someday, you'll-" He brushed a lock of hair away from her face, then stood and turned his back on her abruptly, returning to the side of his mate.  
  
"This is so awful..." The mother said softly. Her hands reached out for him and he held her, pulled her close to him.  
  
"She'll live," he said. It was the only thing he could think of to say. "She's all that matters now."  
  
"That's not the point."  
  
"I know."  
  
Beneath their feet, the earth shook violently. They watched the capsule take off silently, spouts of molten fire rising in the air around them as they watched their daughter fly away, her small ship charting its way through the vast obsidian reaches of space. There were no words; there was no use for them. So they clung to each other instead, closing their eyes away from the fiery destruction slowly forcing its way towards them, and accepted.  
  
"Someday..." murmured the mother.  
  
"She'll understand..." the father finished.  
  
* * * * *  
  
She stood up, brushing dark hair away from her eyes. She was tired from the long flight, sore from carrying the groceries, but that was okay. There was enough food now to get her through the next few days, and that was all that mattered. With a soft sigh, she rebalanced the bags on her hip and descended, automatically checking for intruders.  
  
A week. She had found this place a week ago. The cave was an amazing stroke of luck in itself; the rock soft enough so that she only had to do a little blasting to get the space that she wanted, a steady water supply nearby--a small but clean stream--and a thick canopy of maples that would keep her out of sight. And the place would be beautiful in fall. The trees would erupt into a brilliant riot of color and the stream would freeze over during the winter, glinting sun off every inch of its ice-polished surface.  
  
She hated it.  
  
She hated the memories it brought back, the images that flickered in her mind every time she woke up and saw the trees, heard the sound the water running. All forests looked alike, to her eyes, and this one jarringly reminded her of the last one she'd lived by.   
  
[But it isn't the same forest,] she reminded herself for the thousandth time that day, [and that's all that matters.] Briskly, she shook her head, landed, and began walking towards the cave. She would live here, at least until she found a better place. She would forget. Then she would find some way to have her revenge on a certain handsome young man with long black hair and pale blue eyes...  
  
An explosion rocked the ground. Birds rose in the air with a flurry of wings, their voices a harsh cacophony in the shattered silence. She raised an eyebrow to herself, feeling the power level tingling at the edges of her senses.  
  
[What the hell is that bastard doing here...?]  
  
With a soft hiss, she dropped the bags and rose in the air.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Trunks didn't want to be here. What if the wrong person saw him and guessed who he was? What if Vegita or Bulma recognized him? He shook his head, forcing himself to focus. It was risky, yes, being here. But it was a risk that he'd calculated many, many times, one that he had to take.  
  
Frieza was standing in front of him, with that damn smirk on his face. Such an arrogant being. Always figuring that his family's linage, his strength excused anything he wanted to do. Always on the prowl for a new challenge, for someone to test his powers on.   
  
And that would make him what? Frieza's newest experiment?  
  
He grinned, powering up and settling into a fighting stance. [Well, guess what? This experiment isn't going to go without a-]  
  
"Hey," a soft voice said.   
  
He turned his head slightly. The speaker was young, thirteen or so, small for her age, with a pair of dark sunglasses perched on her nose. Her hair had been cropped short, as if she'd simply grabbed a fistful of raven strands and ran a blade through them. He glanced at the worn, dirty clothes, the ragged jacket, the faded jeans, and couldn't hide a smile.  
  
[Not much for appearances.]  
  
"Sorry for the interruption," the girl said, arms crossed over her chest, eyes deliberately on Frieza so he couldn't see her face. "But Frieza and I have a prior dispute that I would like to settle now."  
  
[Is she crazy?] he wondered, considering the slender figure before him, [She has no chance of-]   
  
He stopped short, trying to gauge the extents of her power. There was energy rising off her body in waves, whipping the air around her into a frenzy, raising her ki signature until it rivaled his own. He stared; couldn't help it. It was hard to believe that someone as painfully young as her could possibly be-  
  
"Well?" she repeated.  
  
"If you can handle it," Trunks said.  
  
"So now it's two against one?" Frieza asked sardonically, "I think I'll just..."  
  
"Die," she whispered. Her energy level flared up sharply, to a level that only a few had ever reached before. She walked slowly toward Frieza, fresh power shivering around her with each step, distorting the air around her.  
  
"I don't blame you if you don't remember me, Frieza," she said. "It's been a long time. Fourteen years."  
  
[Fourteen? That can't be right. Fourteen years ago she couldn't have been more than-]  
  
"My father always told me," she hissed, her voice rising. "That you were the one to blame for destroying everything. And now..." She rose two feet in the air, "Now you pay."  
  
"Am I supposed to be scared?" Frieza drawled.  
  
The wind rose in strength and volume, shrieking as it flew past his ears. He threw his arms up to shield his eyes from the dust, shaking his head in disbelief. [Impossible. There can't be that many of us around.]  
  
Debris began to float from the ground, kept aloft by the waves of her power. She hovered there for a second, hands in her jacket pockets, considering Frieza like an insect she wasn't sure whether to capture or squash. It was an act. He knew it was an act. He'd done the same thing before countless times--forced his face and body to calmness in order to unnerve an enemy.  
  
But dammit, it was one thing to practice it and another thing to _see_ it.  
  
"You!" Frieza screamed. "You! I took care of your family a long time ago! I killed you!"  
  
"You almost did," she said. "I'll admit that. I almost didn't make it in time. But being alien does have its advantages."  
  
[Alien...] He turned the word over and over in his mind. [I'm partly alien. Did she mean that she's a...]  
  
"You're that, that..." Frieza was saying.  
  
"Bingo," she whispered. Then her breath caught, became sharper, harsher. The lines of her face changed, her jaw setting, mouth tightening as black locks of hair rose to form shifting strands above her head. She didn't make a sound, but her whole body tensed, arched, then-  
  
Her hair color changed, going from black to blonde as a golden aura sprang up around her. She looked at him, the level gaze mocking him in its detachment, daring him to act. He shook his head, then began to draw on the memory that would trigger his power to levels that no human could ever hope to obtain.  
  
[Yes. Being alien does have its advantages...]  
  
* * * * *  
  
[What the hell's going on?] Vegita thought, hands clenching involuntarily as he stood there and sensed the two unfamiliar power levels raise. One of them--the higher one; the one that had been around longer--was familiar, whereas the other one.... He frowned, closing his eyes as he reached out for it, rolling the scent of power in his mind.   
  
[Different.] He opened his eyes. [Like Piccolo's ki signature is different from Goku's. Like Gohan's is different from mine.] He hissed, glaring into the distance. [I have to see this. I have to see who these power levels belong to.] He gritted his teeth, ran a few steps, then shot up in the air, not caring that Goku's friends would follow him.  
  
Let them.  
  
* * * * *  
  
She watched the boy as he transformed.  
  
Not a boy, really, she reminded herself absently, Almost a man. Eighteen or so. Straight hair, such a pale shade of blonde it was white, two strands of which kept on falling into his blue eyes. Well-built--broad shoulders, narrow waist--but compact, without the bulky muscles that would hinder movement. Human looking, missing the trademark signs of a Saiyan. None of the disorganized jet hair or coal eyes that usually ran in their blood. But he had to be Saiyan. There was no other race that she knew of that was capable of this sort of power, capable of turning into a Super Saiyan.  
  
[Is the enemy of my enemy my enemy? Or is the enemy of my enemy my friend?]  
  
After all, she and this oddly pale Saiyan were only allies because they both wanted Frieza dead. Afterwards...afterwards he could turn on her, and she wouldn't be able to do much about it.  
  
"Funny," said Frieza, feigning contemplation. "I remember your parents. Remember crushing your puny little race. But I don't quite remember your name...."  
  
She rose in the air. "How sad. Can't even keep track of your victims."  
  
"You're hilarious, kid," Frieza laughed. "Talking like you're fifty. How old are you? Twelve? Thirteen?"  
  
"Seventeen," she said flatly. "Almost eighteen."  
  
Frieza stopped laughing. "You're kidding."  
  
"Am I?"  
  
Frieza growled, the laughter disappearing from his eyes. She could see the ki blast he was forming in his right hand.   
  
"It's all starting to make sense now, neh, Frieza? My appearance, my age, everything. Took you a while."  
  
"You little..." Frieza screamed, throwing the energy he had formed toward her.  
  
She put her hands in front of her, splitting the energy into a hundred different fragments that flew harmlessly over the terrain, raising clouds of dust wherever they landed. She glanced up at him. "Not bad. Could do better though."   
  
Frieza hissed and formed a bigger blast, once again flinging it at her. She caught the ball with one hand, then swung it upwards. The blast shot off into the air, exploding spectacularly--and harmlessly.  
  
"Please," she said, her voice scathing. "Do something that actually takes some of my time?"  
  
Frieza grinned, then rose in the air, forming a glittering red-gold blast in his hand. It grew larger and larger, blocking out the sun, until he stopped, holding it over his head with both his hands.  
  
"This again?" she said. "You like this attack, don't you? Been using it often."  
  
"I'm sure you would know all about it," gritted Frieza, mechanized hands softening underneath the heat of the power.  
  
* * * * *  
  
He was impressed. Very impressed. There was unmistakable power behind those soft words and a ki signature to match, one that was higher than Frieza's, almost as high as his.  
  
[Unless she's hiding her true power level.]  
  
But he doubted it. You didn't make allies by concealing information from them, and this girl couldn't afford him as an enemy. After all, experience--and strength--came from age, and he was much older than her, and therefore much stronger.   
  
If he was older than her in the first place.  
  
What was all that about her being seventeen? She barely looked thirteen, let alone...  
  
Frieza threw the fiery ball in his hand toward the girl. She stood there, watching, until the blast engulfed her, sinking halfway into the ground. Pillars of dust rose in the air until the area surround her was so clogged up that he couldn't tell whether she was still standing or not. However, he could still sense her power, blazing away underneath all that debris in the air. The blast was rotating, still forcing its way into the ground, but...  
  
...it slowly rose, the waves of heat shimmering their way across the ground. She stepped out of the huge crater the blast had created, holding the flaming blast up with one hand.  
  
She cocked her head to one side, raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "Yours?"   
  
Frieza growled and fired a small shot of power at the larger blast. The surface of the flaming sphere rippled, like waves across the sea. The girl looked at it, this time in calculation, as the exterior contracted and expanded, threatening to set itself off. Just as the whole thing was about to explode, she hurled it through the air toward Frieza. The being shrieked and dodged--barely--then whirled and looked for the girl.  
  
Trunks laughed. It was almost hilarious, seeing this half-robotic thing turning around and around, searching for someone who obviously wasn't there. With a sharp, short hiss, Frieza whirled around to face him. "Did she get scared and run off, pretty boy?"  
  
For a second, Trunks looked at him, still smiling. Then he pointed a finger upwards.  
  
"Hey, Frieza!" The girl's voice carried over from above just as a blast headed toward Frieza.  
  
[A slow-moving blast,] thought Trunks. [She can't be tiring this quickly. Probably wants to play around a little more.]  
  
Frieza shot up in the air, "You little...you're going to pay for that!"  
  
The girl's ki level flared sharply, translucent golden flames shooting up once again around her body as she shot down toward Frieza. As he watched, she clenched both hands into fists, two hilts appearing in her palms, a blade shooting out of each.  
  
[Swords...She just made two of them appear out of nowhere...]  
  
He didn't know who this girl was, but he was developing a lot of respect for her.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Frieza screamed as she brought the blades down, screamed at the searing pain slicing through his mind, the whistle of steel through his ears, the spray of liquid warmth on his hands. Blood. His.  
  
The last thing he saw was a golden blast heading toward him.  
  
* * * * *  
  
She landed on the ground and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to calm herself. Slowly, slowly, her hair color darkened to normal and her power level subsided to its normal state. The golden aura around her faded. She opened her eyes again, turned to face the Super Saiyan.  
  
The stranger stepped forward now, smiled to indicate that he was not an enemy. She glared at him warily. What was a smile worth? It was simply a curve of the mouth, an odd mannerism that two-legged beings had developed over the years. Her silence seemed to amuse him; the set of his jaw changed from tense distrust to barely-concealed amusement. He turned away and rose into the air, put his palms together, then rapidly fired several blasts toward Frieza's ship, causing it to explode in an extravagant display of kaleidoscopic color.  
  
[A display,] her instincts told her as she watched. [A show of power.]   
  
[Why, though? Why bother wasting energy like that? Is he trying to intimidate me? Trying to prove he could be a valuable ally? Trying to tell me to back off?] She glanced at him, watching the man's white-blond strands of hair fly back as the shockwave of the explosion engulfed them both in a ripple of heat.  
  
[I don't know.]  
  
[I guess I'll find out, though.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
Trunks exhaled, long and low, and smiled a little ruefully. He'd gone through so much trouble to make himself strong enough to defeat Frieza, and this little girl had just shown up and blown the guy to bits. If only he'd known that he wasn't needed, then maybe...  
  
[Never mind. What's done is done. Have to get moving now.]  
  
The girl's eyes were flickering over him, moving from the sheathed blade strapped to his back, to the face, to the Capsule Corp logo on his jacket. He considered her as well, trying to search for a flicker of emotion on her face. Damn those sunglasses. They hid her eyes and the eyes were always the key to figuring out exactly what a person was thinking.  
  
"You're not a full Saiyan, are you?" she said abruptly. Not a question.  
  
"Why?" Trunks said, imitating the flat tone of her voice. "Are you?"  
One of her eyebrows went up beneath the shades. They stood like that for a few seconds, watching each other, then she finally looked away, took the glasses off, and looked up at him again.  
  
Blue-green. Trunks exhaled sharply, almost took a step back. Her eyes were the softest shade of blue-green possible, slanted, framed with dark lashes that only enhanced the pale color. Cold eyes. Predatory eyes. Eyes that belonged on the face of the sleek black jaguars he'd seen in picture books when he was a child.   
  
She jammed her sunglasses back onto her face, tucked strand of dark hair back behind her ear.  
  
"Full Saiyans don't have light hair," she said, bluntly.   
  
"And full Saiyans," said Trunks slowly, not sure what the game was but playing along anyway, "Don't have pale eyes, either."  
  
She looked at him for a long time from beneath the shades, then, point made, she turned away, sat on a nearby rock, tilted her face away deliberately.  
  
[Wonderful.]  
  
He turned his back on her and glanced at the group of power levels that'd been collecting throughout the girl's fight with Frieza. They'd collected an audience; a small crowd was standing a safe distance away from them, watching them.  
  
"Hey, c'mon!" Trunks called, "I won't bite."  
  
They didn't move at all.  
  
"I know where Goku will be landing."   
  
That got a response out of them. They fidgeted, began talking to each other in hushed tones, glancing at him every two or three seconds as if accusing him of eavesdropping. Like he could hear them from this distance.  
  
"He'll be showing up around two hours from now. Follow me."   
  
* * * * *  
  
["Follow me."]  
  
His last words seemed to echo in her mind as he turned to face her. She shook her head to herself, wanting to hit him for being so...so transparent. He had been shouting, true, he had been talking in those...other people's direction, but the tone of his voice, the way he'd kept on glancing at her... He'd been talking to her, rather than to the small crowd in the distance.   
  
["Follow me."]   
  
[An invitation?]  
  
"You going or what?" he said to her. Then, without waiting for a reply, he powered up, pushed off the ground, and left for the sky in a streak of golden light. She hesitated only an instant before taking off after him.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Trunks still wasn't sure what to make of her. She was small, almost fragile looking, but.... He almost winced, remembering how easily she'd destroyed Frieza, how simple she'd made it look. Not fragile. Anything but fragile.  
  
[Mother never mentioned anyone like her in our time.... Why? Because she never showed up to fight Frieza? Because mother never met her? Because she defeated Frieza by herself, then slipped away before Vegita and the others showed up?]  
  
[And if she's powerful enough to defeat Frieza, why didn't she show up to help in the fight against the-]  
  
His watched beeped. He opened up the face, looked at it, and began to slow down for a landing.  
  
[So if she deliberately avoided Goku and the others in my timeline, then why is she here to meet Goku now? Because of me?]  
  
[Probably.]  
  
[Wonderful. Another problem to solve. Another kink in this multidimensional mess to work out.]  
  
[Don't even know her name.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
It was done. She'd gotten her revenge on the being that had destroyed her planet and her family.  
  
[So why the hell am I following this complete stranger?] She sighed, the soft noise lost in the current of wind flowing against her face. She already knew the various answers to that question. Because she wanted to see Goku. Because she wanted to finally see the face plastered on a million newspapers across the country, the celebrity who'd won so many contests in his youth. Because she wanted to see the staggering power that she'd sensed from a distance so often. Because....  
  
The pale-haired man's eyes glanced back at her for the twentieth time in the past ten minutes. She glared at him, glared at his back, at the logo sewn onto the denim jacket. Stupid halfbreed. No tact whatsoever.   
  
Shaking her head at her pointless anger, she brushed persistent bangs away from her eyes, combing them back behind her ears. So annoying. They always got in her face whenever she was trying to do anything. She should've cut them as well when she cut her hair. She should've bought those little hairclips that humans used on her last trip to the city. The plain ones. Not the ones with ridiculous glitter and beads glued all over them. Should've-  
  
* * * * *  
  
[Should've talked to her earlier,] thought Trunks, scanning the ground below him for a landing site. [Need to ask some questions. Need to find out what kind of person she is. Need to...] He winced a little, thinking of the small crowd following him. [Need to be able to have a conversation with her without having a dozen people staring.]  
  
[Need to see whether she's a potential threat or a potential ally.]  
  
He shook his head, jaw tightening, and descended. That was what it came down to in the end--whether this girl would help them or not. If she would, that was good; they could use another person on their side. If she wouldn't... Trunks didn't want to think about what they'd have to do if she wouldn't help.  
  
They couldn't afford another enemy.  
  
* * * * *  
  
The man was looking at her again.   
  
Resisting the stupid urge to make a very human hand gesture at him, she landed twenty yards away from him, thick-soled sneakers absorbing the slight impact soundlessly, and leapt onto a boulder, balancing herself on the smooth rock surface.   
  
It wasn't the pale blue scrutiny that bothered her. No, it was how painfully _obvious_ he was being about it, glancing at her, glancing away, glancing back again two seconds later. If he had to examine her, had to analyze her, he could at least be more discreet about it.   
  
Then again, clumsiness and obviousness were human traits. And this man was, judging by his ki signature, at least half human.  
  
Unfavorable genetics. Lack of subtlety. Two points against the man.  
  
But the fighting style, the too-high ki signature, the casualness with which he handled his strength, the way he smiled when he powered up, fire leaping up behind that level gaze.... Plenty of muscle. Knowledge of how to use it. Two points for him.  
  
Two minus two equaled zero. She sat, letting her legs dangle over the edge of the boulder, and sighed.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Bulma shaded her face against the sun, letting go of Yamcha as he landed alongside the rest of the group. She took in the desolate area, examining the treeless environment, the random tufts of brown grass poking their way up the cracked, dry ground, and shook her head, forcing herself to accept the new set of circumstances. After all, It wasn't as if she hadn't dealt with weird events before. Just that day, Vegita had shown up at her place unannounced, acting like the spoiled brat he was, then Frieza had shown up, also unannounced, acting like the xenocidal maniac he was, and now...these two. Unannounced. Acting like....   
  
At least they didn't demand room service.  
  
* * * * *  
  
A glance, no, several glances in her direction. A small crowd had arrived. Mostly humans. A Saiyan, small for his race. Surly looking. Wearing a--she forced her eyes away--pink shirt. A... She leaned forward, straining to see more clearly. Was that green-skinned being...a Namek? She closed her eyes, trying to remember the images in that electronic tutorial on her ship. Yes. Namek. And then, finally, an odd ki signature that felt like a mix between a human and a....  
  
Oh.  
  
[Amazing,] she tilted her head to one side, examining the boy more closely. He wasn't that old. Seven, maybe. Eight at the most. [Hard to believe any Saiyan would deign to have a child with a human woman.]  
  
[Then again...]  
  
The strange man, the one with the pale hair who could turn into a Super Saiyan...he was partially human as well, wasn't he? She glanced at him, irritated to find that his eyes were on her again, his arms crossed over his chest.  
  
[Idiot hybrid.] She pulled her knees up, wrapped her arms around them, stared back at him. [He's contradictory enough as is, with dual bloodlines. Does he have to annoy me more by looking at me like that? By analyzing me? By not bothering to hide that he's analyzing me?]  
  
[But then what do I care, anyway? Fine. Evaluate me. Sit me down on your little couch and try to get in my head. Good luck. If you ever figure me out, be sure to tell me. I've been myself for seventeen and a half years and I still don't know what the hell I am, don't know what the hell I've _become_.]  
  
She swallowed convulsively, remembering mocking words and probing fingers, obsidian hair and ice eyes, slow smiles and silken laughter and white hot pain and-   
  
Biting the inside of her cheek, she forced the unwanted images back until they reluctantly retreated into a corner of her mind, snarling as they slunk back into the cage she'd created for them. She brushed dark bangs out of her eyes tiredly, ignoring the sharp tang of blood in her mouth. The memories would return. They always did. But until then....  
  
The wind picked up. She tilted her face to it, allowing the cold to seep into her skin and flesh and bone until the fear was gone.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Are you all right?" She didn't move, didn't jump, didn't say anything. When it was obvious she wasn't going to give a reply, Trunks sighed, turned his face to the sun.  
  
[I really don't want to deal with this right now....]  
  
"Well?" he said. She turned to face him and stared, the blank expression behind the sunglasses conveying an all-too-clear message.  
  
[I'm not welcome.]  
  
"I'm fine," she said. "Do you need something?"  
  
Trunks raised an eyebrow at the flat, matter-of-face tone of voice, privately wishing--not for the first time--that those shades were off. "Yes, in fact," he said, jamming his hands in his pockets, "A name, an address, a phone number...something along those lines."  
  
"That's not important."  
  
"To me it is."  
  
"...."  
  
* * * * *  
  
Gohan looked at the sun for the umpteenth time, groaning mentally when he saw that it'd barely moved. He wished he had a watch, wished there was some other way to judge time other than the shadow cast by the rocks and the temperature.  
  
How long was two hours, anyway?  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Look, don't get me wrong," said the man, flushing as he realized his mistake, raking his white-blond hair back with one hand in frustration. "I'm not trying to pick up on you or anything."  
  
[You better not be.] She wasn't sure what she'd do if he was.  
  
"All I'm asking for is a name."  
  
She took off the sunglasses, glared at him. "What's yours?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"I asked a question. What's your name?"  
  
"...."  
  
* * * * *  
  
His body was perfectly still but his mind wasn't. It was clicking rapidly, moving from idea to idea, bouncing off questions that only led to more questions, ricocheting off unsolved problems that could not be solved because of unknown variables.  
  
Two unknown variables, specifically.  
  
Who the hell was he?  
  
And who the hell was she?  
  
The girl. Vegeta crossed his arms over his chest, examining her. Short. Skinny. Hair cropped short, tousled and dark. Sunglasses. Unsmiling. All in all, completely ordinary. Perfectly invisible, from the conventional pair of sunglasses to the black jeans to the well-worn sneakers. He could pass her on the streets without glancing at her twice.  
  
If it weren't for the ki signature, that is. The signature that, if raised, would have every Saiyan and demi-Saiyan and trained human within a two hundred mile radius searching for her.  
  
And the white-haired man... He was really something. Vegeta snorted, remembering the man's little speech, the warning bells it'd set off in his head. The stranger had said that Goku would arrive in two hours. Fine. The stranger had said that he knew Goku by reputation only. Fine. The stranger had said that he couldn't tell them his name. That was wrong. Very wrong. A name was simply a title, something to label a being with, something meant to be given away without trouble.  
  
[He should have just made up a name and gotten it over with,] thought Vegeta, baring his teeth in a half-annoyed, half-amused gesture that was more growl than grin. [The idiot.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Well?"  
"...."  
  
His mother had always told him that if she had a second child, and if it were a boy, then she would have named him...  
  
"Alec."  
  
* * * * *  
  
His mother was human. Therefore she always thought that his father's views were funny.  
  
"He always insisted on giving you a Saiyan name, or at least something that sounded like one," she would say quietly then smile, always the same amusedly wistful smile. "So I let him. I let him pick out a name for you just so that he'd shut up and go away."  
  
"And," She would add, in a softer voice, later on, when Trunks grew older and began to understand that soft longing behind her eyes whenever she spoke of his father, "I loved him too much to say no."  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Alec. That's a human name."  
  
  
"What's your point?"  
  
"It's not probable."  
  
"It's not probable, but it's not impossible."  
  
"...."  
  
* * * * *  
  
Piccolo strained to hear their voices, wishing they'd talk louder so that he could pick up their conversation better. Something about names. Something about...Alec?   
  
The breeze whipped up, carrying their words farther away from his ears. He growled in exasperation and gave up, watching them instead of listening to him, waiting for the wind to die away before he tried to drop in again. It was almost amusing to watch them from a distance, watch the man talk--or try to talk--and watch the girl...  
  
She wasn't rude, exactly, but she was cold. Precise. No noticeable movements, no hand gestures, no nervous habits, none of the excess behavior that would reveal impatience or anger or something along those lines. Just near silence and an attitude that practically screamed, "I don't care." All in all, as mute and charmingly social as an ice cube.   
  
But the power level, the quick, skillful movements when she fought, the nonchalance with which she destroyed Frieza...fire. A controlled fire, maybe, but one that burned every bit as bright and painful as a unmanageable one.  
  
Fire and ice.  
  
The next two hours were going to be interesting ones.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Now. What's your name?"  
  
"...."  
  
* * * * *  
  
She had always been a loner. Ever as a child, she had always preferred silence to conversation, action to talk, the sound of the wind murmuring through the trees to the noisy bustle of the city. While other children played, whispered, laughed, shaping the rungs to their meaningless social ladders, she was off on her own, traipsing the forest around her home in her childish feet.   
  
Her mother and father had always teased her about her lack of sociability. Then worried. It settled into a pattern after a while. She would stay up too late and overhear one of her parents' muttered discussions. Then she would go off, make a few friends who never really were friends and stick around them for a while, doing whatever they thought was fun. After a few weeks, her parents would begin to worry about peer pressure, resulting in a lecture on potential bad influences. This was her cue to slowly drift back to the forest she knew so well.   
  
A pattern. One that she was used to, one that she had no desire to break away from.  
  
Then came the day when earthquakes fragmented the surface of her planet, melting the once-peaceful refuge into a hellish crypt of flames and death. The day when Frieza came to destroy the last of the Saiyans, forcing her parents to sacrifice themselves so that she could live.  
  
The day she began to hate the name she grew up with.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Call me Ender," she said. Her mother's nickname for her had always been Ender.  
  
The man was skeptical and trying to hide it. He wasn't doing a very good job. "Ender's a human name. And a nickname for Andrea."  
  
"What are you trying to say here?"  
  
"It's not possible."  
  
"Neither is Alec."  
  
Was that a trace of a grin on his face? 


	2. The Arrival

Disclaimer: DBZ does not belong to me. I am not making any money off this, etc, therefore it would be completely pointless to sue me over this one little fanfic. Also, to answer a question I've been asked about twenty times, no, I had never, ever read Ender's Game before writing this story. Whatever similarities between this fanfic and OSC's writings are purely coincidental, believe it or not.  
  
Fire and Ice  
written by Anderea  
speak2005@hotmail.com  
  
Chapter Two, The Arrival  
  
  
Ender mouthed the name, sliding her hands into her jacket pockets as she watched him out of the corner of her eye. Alec. She shook her head, turning away. Impossible. No Saiyan would allow their child to be given a human name. It was degrading. Humiliating. Admitting that a child was unfit for the warrior life.  
  
[He's lying, then.]  
  
Her lips thinned, a mental finger pressing her power level down to curb her irritation. So he wasn't as naïve as he looked; he knew enough not to give out his real name to a total stranger. Not bad for someone who was incapable of keeping his emotions in check. Who couldn't act Saiyan even if he tried. Who couldn't hide his-  
  
She stopped at that thought.  
  
The ki signature. Alec couldn't hide his ki signature.   
  
Ender shook her head. How long had she been keeping track of the highest power levels on Earth? A long time. Since she heard about Goku. Since she'd found that there were other, stronger Saiyans who had survived Frieza's mass murder. Since she'd finally figured out how to conceal herself well enough to be able to follow these men without them noticing.  
  
So, in all those years of tracking multiple ki signatures, in all those years of compiling information on the strongest fighters on Earth, how the hell had she managed to miss a power level as high as Alec's?  
  
[Simple. You assumed.]  
  
Stupid. She exhaled a breath in a hiss, studying the rocky ground. She'd been stupid to assume that she'd found every single potential threat on this tiny planet, stupid to overlook this Alec, stupid to allow herself to relax. Stupidity meant mistakes, and mistakes got you killed. Or hurt. Or-  
  
The memory fought its way to the surface of her mind and Ender closed her eyes against it, hands grabbing a handful of denim and clenching.  
  
* * * * *  
  
[It's almost funny, watching mother with another man,] Trunks thought, glancing over in Yamcha's direction. He looked away, trying not to wince as he saw the human slide an arm around Bulma's waist. [Almost.]  
  
They looked happy, dammit. They looked like they were in love. And under any normal circumstances, Trunks might have wished this nameless, faceless couple the best of luck.  
  
But these weren't normal circumstances and Yamcha wasn't his father.  
  
So how did Vegita fit in this?  
  
* * * * *  
  
Vegita crossed his arms over his chest, trying to ignore the giggling noises coming from behind him. Idiot humans. They were so variable. So inconstant. One second the woman would be screaming at Yamcha. The next, Yamcha would be threatening to leave. Then, two minutes later, they'd be hugging. Or worse, kissing. In public! It was bad enough having to endure their arguments, but having to endure their sappiness?   
  
He hissed, forcing his eyes forward. Unfortunately, that put the girl right in front of him. Vegita watched her through narrowed eyes, watched the translucent beads of sweat forming on her temples, the hard set of her jaw, the white-knuckled hands, and snorted, looking away.  
  
Crazy girl. Probably psychotic.   
  
* * * * *  
  
For the second or third time that day, Gohan glanced up to find the white-haired man's eyes on him. The demi-Saiyan ignored the uneasiness in the pit of his stomach and stared back until the man smiled, one side of his lips curving upwards, and looked away.  
  
Gohan shook his head, turning his back on the stranger. The man's gaze didn't bother him. No, Gohan was used to the stares, the whispered comments between bystanders as they gawked at the muscles lacing his deceivingly small form. But this man's eyes didn't hold surprise, or amazement. Rather, they held...familiarity. Warmth. Like he was looking at a friend he hadn't seen for a long time.  
  
And Gohan was pretty sure that he'd never met this man before.  
  
* * * * *  
  
[_Shit_.]  
  
Ender's hand went up to her forehead, fingers brushing her temples in a futile effort to dampen the pain. Headache. Another head-pounding, mind-bending headache that always managed to shatter her concentration, destroy her focus.   
  
[Did it again.]  
  
She tried to remember what she'd been thinking about a few minutes ago and shook her head, the slight movement compounding the discomfort. Something about.... She closed her eyes, concentrating. Something about....  
  
Alec. She looked at the pale-haired man and nodded. Yes. Something about Alec. Now, if only she could remember _what_ about Alec. Memory prickled at the edges of her mind and she strained to-  
  
"What the hell are you staring at?" Vegita's voice broke into her thoughts.   
  
She resisted the urge to kick something. So close. So damn close figuring out something and the man just had to open his mouth. It had been important, too. She _knew_ it had been important.   
  
"Nothing..." Alec said. That younger, clear voice had to be Alec's. "It's just that...I...I like your shirt..."  
  
The shirt. The pink one with BAD MAN written on the back. Ender glanced at Vegita and closed her eyes. He still looked ridiculous.  
  
"If you like it so much you can have it!" Vegita shouted.   
  
"Guys, guys..." said a woman in a too-short skirt. Ender looked at her, matching up the face with a name. Bulma Briefs, inventor and future owner of Capsule Corp. Ender had a file on her. The picture was outdated though--it showed short, straight hair instead of this...this nightmare that Bulma had now. Ender would have to find and paste in a newer photo as soon as she-  
  
"Stay _out_ of this, woman!" Vegita hissed, turning on Bulma. Ender exhaled through her teeth, letting her head drop down into her palms.  
  
"What?" Bulma's voice rose an octave in indignation. "What the hell is _your_ problem?"  
  
"You! You're the one who forced me into this stupid getup!"  
  
[Shut up,] Ender thought, holding her head between her hands. [Shut up, shut up, shut up.] Her headache throbbed in time to their words. She looked up and glared at the Saiyan and the human behind her sunglasses, wishing she could silence them with her thoughts.  
  
And, cursing them, watching them, trying to ignore them, the realization exploded in her head.  
  
Alec looked like Vegita.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Me?" Bulma said, then louder, higher. "_Me_? _You're_ the one who just barged into _my_ house without a word, expecting everyone to... to... start _worshipping_ you!"   
  
"I did no such thing, woman!" Vegita snarled, obsidian eyes glittering as he drew himself up to his full height. "I was simply asking for you to show a little _respect_ for someone of my lineage!"  
  
"Hello?" she snapped, "Did you forget something? This is Earth. No one cares about your lineage, you stupid arrogant bastard, least of all me."  
  
* * * * *  
  
It was unbelievable, standing there, seeing these long-dead heroes that mother mentioned so often, seeing the younger versions of the people he knew. Trunks felt his lips beginning to twitch up into a smile and stopped himself. If he kept on grinning for no reason, everyone standing there was going to think that he was insane.  
  
But still.... Incredible. All those people dead in his time were now alive. And those alive in his time were now twenty years younger, twenty years stronger, twenty years different.  
  
Mother. Trunks wanted to laugh. Sensible, pragmatic mother was quick-tempered and hotheaded in her youth. He wouldn't have expected it of her. Mother was mother, and he'd thought that no reduction of age could change that. But... He grinned, remembering that impressive display of temper in the argument she'd had with Vegita. He'd been wrong.  
  
The grin slipped off his face a little when he saw Vegita. Mother had often spoken of him, often described him with soft voices and softer smiles, but somehow.... Trunks felt his jaw clench. Somehow, he couldn't shake the feeling that Vegita did not deserve his mother's praise. He was arrogant and cold and rude and....   
  
He broke off that train of thought, shaking his head. Mother would never love the Vegita he was describing. There had to be something there that he wasn't seeing, something about Vegita that was worth looking for. That had to be it.  
  
And then there was Gohan. Trunks glanced at the boy for the twentieth time, shook his head for the twentieth time. The Gohan in his time had acutely shown a lifetime running from the androids. He had been quiet to the point of reticence, tired to the point of exhaustion, vengeful to the point of mania.  
  
And in comparison, this Gohan was so...alive.  
  
Alive, with dark, untamable bangs, wide eyes inquisitive and curious, harsher Saiyan features still blunted with childhood. Alive, grinning now as Piccolo said something to him, saying something back in return, something that caused the Namek to crack a slow smile. Alive, healthy, complete.  
  
But all that would change when the androids came.  
  
Trunks closed his eyes, reining in the automatic surge of blind anger. The androids. They would scour the earth, destroying Tokyo in a single day, slicing the earth's population in half within a year. They would burn entire cities to the ground, cut down the governments so that the world would be leaderless. They would kill everyone that stood a chance against them: Vegita, Piccolo, Krillin, Tien, Yamcha...  
  
Gohan.  
  
And then, when there was no resistance left to speak of, the androids would pick off the population, little by little, until the human race dwindled to insignificance. Until every person alive, every youth and adult and elder, had lost a brother, or a sister, or a mother, or a father. Until the only chance for survival was to live underground, where layers of earth shielded your ki, for the duration of life.  
  
Trunks opened his eyes, tilted his face up to the sun. He hadn't allowed himself to relax and feel the sun for a long time, had always been too busy keeping an eye out for the androids to enjoy the few moments he had above ground. That was the price he paid for being alive.  
  
He wasn't going to let this world's people pay the same price.  
  
* * * * *  
  
["No one cares about your lineage, you stupid arrogant bastard."]  
  
["Least of all me."]  
  
Damn it. Vegita growled, muscles clenching so hard that they trembled, the sinews in his arms standing out as he curled his fingers into fists. Damn that woman. Who the hell did she think she was, talking to him like he was beneath her? He was the prince of the Saiyans, the strongest of his race, the-  
  
[Ruler without a race to rule over, elite who was beaten by a disgrace of a third-class warrior, royal who, for all his power, cannot earn the respect of one mere _human_.]  
  
Vegita snarled, jaw tightening as he struggled to get his fury under control.  
  
Damn that woman!  
  
* * * * *  
  
Ender glanced between the two men, searching out similarities in their features.   
  
Vegita had somewhat slanted eyes, black as midnight, harsh and cold. His stiff, chaotic hair, typical of Saiyans, swept upwards from a prominent widow's peak, accenting the high forehead, the perpetual scowl indentations above his eyebrows. His skin color was different than everyone else's; a sort of darker, mahogany-tinted color.   
  
Alec's eyes were wide and pale, but they had the slight upward tilt to them as well. His hair was straight and light, not at all like Vegita's, but he had the same widow's peak, the same high forehead, the same skin tone. He even had the Saiyans' traditional features: the angular, prominent cheekbones, the low, strong brows, the sharp, stubborn chin.  
  
So what did that mean? Was Vegita Alec's father?  
  
It made sense. Made a lot of sense. From his power level and his looks, she knew that Alec was part human, part Saiyan. And the only Saiyans whose ki signatures she'd ever sensed on Earth were Goku, Vegita, Raditz, and Nappa.  
  
She knew that Goku wasn't Alec's father, because Chichi didn't have the pale hair or eyes that Alec had inherited from his human parent. She knew that Raditz and Nappa hadn't survived long enough on Earth to have half-human children.   
  
So that left Vegita.  
  
And since Vegita and Alec's features matched, maybe, just maybe....  
  
* * * * *  
  
[What's that girl doing?]  
  
She had been looking at the white-haired stranger and Vegita for the past couple of minutes, her gaze flicking back and forth between them. Krillin squinted in her direction for a few seconds before he shook his head at himself.  
  
So what if she was watching Vegita? So what if she was watching the stranger? She could just be measuring them up, figuring out how she'd stand up against them in a fight.   
  
A fight. Between this girl and Vegita. That was an interesting idea. Krillin wondered whether she'd even last five minutes. There couldn't be enough power in that small body to stand up against someone as strong as Vegita.  
  
Then again, if she could turn Super Saiyan....  
  
* * * * *  
  
The girl was watching him again.  
  
She had started a few minutes ago, looking at him for a long time, then turning away, then looking back again. Trunks leaned forward and stared back, searching her face for an expression. Any expression.  
  
What was she thinking?  
  
Through the fabric of his jacket, he brushed the cylinders hidden in his inside front pocket. The one on the left was a compressed capsule holding the time machine. The one on the right was the medicine he'd have to give Goku later. The one in the center....   
  
Drinks, his mother had said when she handed him the capsule, in case you need to break the ice.   
  
He smiled at the thought. It would take more than a few cans of soda to get that girl to talk. More like a few shots of liquor. But, shrugging to himself, he slid the capsule out, pressing the button on its side and throwing it to the ground before him.   
  
Anything was worth a try.  
  
* * * * *  
  
No. Ender hissed between clenched teeth, feeling the credibility of her theory slip away. Vegita had first arrived on Earth a short while ago--she had sensed his arrival, felt his ki signature. Alec looked to be around eighteen. A Saiyan who'd been on Earth for such a short amount of time could not have had an eighteen-year-old son with a human woman. So Vegita could not be Alec's father.  
  
But who else could be considered? Goku, Raditz, and Nappa had already been eliminated. Her father had never reached Earth. Was there was another Saiyan who'd survived Frieza? She doubted it. There couldn't be _that_ many stray survivors floating about in space. And she would've sensed any Saiyan that happened to come across Earth. No, Alec's father had to be Vegita.  
  
But that was impossible. The timing was all off. _Completely_ off. So how-  
  
Footsteps.  
  
She listened to them approach, listened to the puffs of dust rising with each stride, and opened her eyes. She knew that ki signature coming towards her. With a soft sigh, she re-settled her sunglasses more securely on the bridge of her nose and leaned forward, elbows on her knees.  
  
"Hey Alec," she said  
  
* * * * *  
  
Somewhere at the back of Trunks's mind, a voice asked whether this was that great of an idea after all, but he shut it up. What was he going to do, run off in the opposite direction and hope that she wouldn't think he was crazy?  
  
"Need something?" she said.  
  
He winced at the coldness of her voice, but told himself not to look away. "No," he said, toying with the can of soda, tossing it from hand to hand. "Not really." He held out the soda to her. "Would you like a drink?"  
  
There was a very long pause. Trunks swore he could almost see her eyes narrow behind the lenses. "Why?" she said finally. "I don't know you. You don't know me. So why?"  
  
He shrugged, trying to get the tension out of his shoulders. "It's hot out here. I figured you'd be thirsty." He offered the soda to her again, and Ender hesitated, still looking up at him. Trunks had the distinct feeling that she wasn't used to people giving her anything. "Go on," he said, trying to smile. "I didn't poison it."  
  
Her eyebrows went up, but she reached for the can. Instead of opening it, though, she just sat, holding it in her hands, as if she wasn't sure whether to open it or toss it away. Trunks shifted his weight from foot to foot, uncomfortable watching her but not knowing what else to do.   
  
When it became obvious that she wasn't going to respond, he sighed and began speaking. "Look, Goku will be showing up in a few more minutes. So..." he trailed off, not sure what he was trying to say. "Never mind. Enjoy the soda." With that, he turned and walked away.  
  
Before he'd gotten very far, though, she called him back. "Alec?"  
  
Trunks took two more steps before he remembered that "Alec" was the false name he'd given her. He turned, boots scraping against the dry ground.  
  
She opened the can. "Thanks," she said, the one word so soft--so unexpected--that he almost didn't hear it above the click and hiss of the lid snapping open.  
  
He stared for an instant, mouth opening in surprise, before he got control over his features. "You're welcome," he said, a little too awkwardly, then once again began to walk away.  
  
"Alec."  
  
For the second time he stopped, turned around. "Yeah?"  
  
She held the soda can up. "Where'd you get this from?"   
  
He blinked, wondering what she was trying to get at. "I had a refrigerator capsuled."  
  
The dark lenses of her sunglasses caught the light, making it even harder to read her expression. "Capsuled?" she murmured, taking another sip from the can.  
  
"Yeah. Some company's producing compressed items by the millions now." When her expression stayed blank, he sighed. "You buy this item that has this logo on the side that says that it can be capsuled, then you put whatever you want in it, then you press a button, and the item gets compacted to a-"  
  
"Capsule the size of your thumb," she finished. Something like amusement crept onto her mouth. "I know, Alec. I watch the commercials."  
  
For some reason, that not-quite smile annoyed him. "Good for you. What's your point?"  
  
"They haven't made a compressible refrigerator yet."  
  
Whatever response he would've made froze on his lips. Trunks swallowed hard, feeling the first tendrils of realization creep into his mind.   
  
"In other words," she said, "you're using something that no one on Earth has developed." She paused. "At least, they haven't developed it _yet_. I'm sure someone will come up with it later. In the future."  
  
Did she know? Had she guessed? He hissed, clenching and unclenching his fists, trying to clear the shock out of his mind long enough to sort everything out.   
  
"You're a bit of a paradox, Alec, you know that?" she said, barging into his thoughts. "You look and dress human, but you have technology that no human's ever produced. You're Vegita's son, but you're far too old for him to be your father." She finished the soda with a calmness that seemed out of place to Trunks's state of mind. "Then again, I shouldn't have expected any less from a human-looking man with Saiyan powers."  
  
For a long moment, there was silence. Then Ender crumpled the empty can in one hand, the soft metal collapsing in her palm, and threw it aside. The metal clattered as it bounced across the ground.   
  
"I want to know three things from you," she said flatly. "First of all, I want to know why you came here. Secondly, I want to know how you trained up to a Super Saiyan without having your power level noticed. And thirdly, I want to know where you got the capsule from because I only know one person who has the technology to make something like that and he's-"   
  
Light streaked across the sky, bringing with it a low rumble that drowned out her words. The two hours were up; Goku was returning to Earth. Trunks couldn't hear her voice over the rising roar of landing spacecraft, but he could see her lips move, watch her finish her sentence.  
  
["-dead."]  
  
* * * * *  
  
"What's going on?" Gohan shouted above the noise.  
  
"Whatever it is," Bulma screamed, clapping her hands over her ears, "it's deafening!" The light they'd seen drew nearer, taking on a reddish tint as it pierced the atmosphere and plummeted to earth. The ground shook with the impact, and then waves of debris radiated from the crash site, swallowing the small group of people in a sea of dust.  
  
Bulma coughed as dirt caked the inside of her mouth. Screwing her face up in disgust, she spat and spat again to wash the taste from her tongue, pulling her shirt over her mouth as a makeshift mask. She squinted through the earth-choked air, straining to see through the settling dust.  
  
And in the hush that followed, as they all stood silent, waiting, as the dust drifted downwards in soft waves, Gohan stared, feeling a new ki signature at the edge of his senses. "Dad?" he whispered, almost not daring to hope. Then, louder. "Dad!" He took off at a run, pushing himself off into the air. "Dad! He's home! He's finally home!"  
  
* * * * *  
  
Even after the air had cleared, Alec continued to stand silent as the stone about him, face frozen into a mask of surprise. Then, with a slow shake of his head, he shifted. And straightened.   
  
And smiled.  
  
_Smiled_.  
  
A half smile, a guarded smile, a smile that broke the stillness even as the hard set of his shoulders spoke a warning. Ender's fingers itched to reach for her swords.   
  
[Not so human after all.]  
  
"'You want to know'?" repeated Alec almost to himself, his voice low with amusement. "And what would happen if I decided not to tell you these things?"  
  
"Oh, you'll tell me," said Ender, sliding a hand into her right pocket, fingers brushing the small device there. "One way or another."   
  
Alec crossed his arms over his chest. "Really?" He took a step towards her, eyes glittering.   
  
Ender hadn't realized how tall he was until now, towering at least half a foot above her. She glared back--told herself to glare back--and crossed her arms over her chest as well. "Really."  
  
An assortment of voices interrupted their staring contest. Alec turned to see where the shouting was coming from, and then, while his head was turned, she slipped it into his jacket pocket.  
  
A bug. Audio listening device. It was essentially a small microphone, about the size and weight of a dollar coin. And, if it worked the way she was hoping it would, it would pick up every single word Alec said and transmit it to her.  
  
"Looks like Goku's arrived," he was saying, still looking in the other direction. "We'll finish this later."  
  
Ender almost smiled. He hadn't noticed. "Later."  
  
* * * * *  
  
Goku breathed a deep sigh as he stepped out of the space capsule. The ground crumbled beneath his feet; the land, dry and cracked from drought, was unable to bear his weight. He looked about him, taking in the heat waves shimmering from the ground, the flat, treeless expanse, the parched dust rising with each scuff of his shoes, and grinned.   
  
Back on Earth at last! It was a relief, such an indescribable relief, to be back where there was fresh air and scenery and room and sunlight and calm and-  
  
"Dad!"   
  
Goku's head snapped up at the distant shout, feeling a very familiar ki signature coming closer and closer. "Gohan?"  
  
"Dad!" Gohan tore towards him, laughing so hard that Goku had to grin as well. With a final whoop, he crashed into his father so hard that he sent Goku skidding back several feet.  
  
"Hey," Goku laughed, hugging his son. "Hey, I missed you too."  
  
* * * * *  
  
Vegita stood, watching the reunion scene, and scowled.  
  
[Fools,] he thought, teeth grinding together. [So preoccupied with their little melodramatics that they fail to notice these...these....] His eyes darted towards the white-haired man and the girl he was talking to. [These menaces.]  
  
Because they _were_ menaces, even if Kakarott's idiot friends weren't treating them as such. Two Saiyans who were capable of Super Saiyan, capable of defeating Frieza and his father like they were nothing, could not be considered anything _but_ menaces.  
  
[And yet...]  
  
And yet, despite the obvious threat those two posed, Goku and his halfbreed son were standing there, _hugging_.  
  
That open display of affection, that blatant disregard for their surroundings, angered him more than anything else. No, "angered" was an understatement. It enraged him. It infuriated him. It made him so fucking ticked off that he couldn't see straight.  
  
And for about five seconds, it almost _killed_ Vegita that Kakarott would embarrass Vegita's race by displaying his weak side in public, that he would be so blind as to disregard two of the strongest power levels ever to touch the planet, and that he, that senile, stupid, ridiculous excuse of a Saiyan, had defeated Vegita in battle, and, oh, how he wanted to go up and wrap his hands around that neck and _squeeze_.  
  
And then, he relaxed.  
  
After all, it was only natural that Kakarott would display his emotions so shamelessly, would let them distract him to improper unwariness. The man had always been volatile, acting off his feelings rather than his sense, his sentiments rather than his instincts. That was Kakarott's greatest weakness.   
  
And, to tell the truth, Vegita didn't mind that weakness at all.  
  
It would just make the fool easier to defeat.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"What?" Goku felt his smile freeze on his face. "That man over there said that I'll be here?" he said, pointing at a youth standing some distance away from the rest of the group.  
  
"That's right, dad." Gohan grinned.  
  
Goku shook his head. "That can't be right."   
  
"Why not?"  
  
"I've never seen that guy before in my life." 


	3. The Confession

Please review! It takes about two seconds and it lets me know whether people like this.  
  
Disclaimer: DBZ does not belong to me. I am not making any money off this, etc, therefore it would be completely pointless to sue me over this one little fanfic. Okay. Now on with the story.  
  
Fire and Ice  
  
Chapter Three, The Confession  
  
"Well then," Bulma said finally after a rather long silence, "He must have been tracking you from outer space."  
  
"I doubt that." Goku said, "I think I would have sensed him. I mean, I could detect Frieza out there as well. He was overheating his ship to make it home before me... But what happened here? Who beat Frieza? Was it you, Piccolo? Or Vegeta?"  
  
"Neither." Piccolo said in his typical low growl, "It was that girl over there. And the other one took care of Frieza's father and his warriors before she arrived."  
  
"What?"  
  
"They turned into Super Saiyans and picked them apart."  
  
The two youths said nothing, both of them watching Goku, whose eyes were already flickering over the two of them.  
  
The first stranger was nothing more than a girl. Around thirteen or so, she was already beautiful and graceful, but he could sense the power blazing underneath her cool exterior. The other was eighteen or so, tall, strongly built, with a high power level as well. Goku studied his face for a moment more. That guy reminded him of someone... Wasn't sure who, but...  
  
"Super Saiyans?" Goku grinned, "That's fantastic! Can you imagine it? Being able to click up at their age?" Piccolo growled and shook his head, wondering how a seasoned warrior like Goku could be so adolescent sometimes...  
  
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Vegeta shouted, his power level once again rising with his voice, "You, your son, and I are the only Saiyans still alive!"  
  
"Yeah, but if they say they're Super Saiyans, then I believe them..."  
  
"Goku, you take things way too lightly sometimes!" Bulma said, indignant.  
  
"Goku," The eighteen-year-old stranger said, "Could I have a word with you?"  
  
"With me?"  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Yes." Alec pointed toward a general area to his right that was split by a crevasse, but his eyes were on Ender. She gazed back, eyes demanding.  
  
"And the girl." He added, after a few moments. She looked away then, getting up silently, not making a sound, not even on the debris-littered ground.   
  
"All right." Goku said.  
  
"Hey," Yamcha shouted as Goku and Alec rose in the air, "What exactly is the guy trying to say!"   
  
"It's all right, guys. I'll be back in a moment." Goku said, already following Alec.  
  
Ender rose in the air, following the two of them as they flew toward an area about two to three hundred feet away from the rest of the group, over the crevasse and to the other side.  
  
Dammit, why am I doing this? She's a girl. What can she do to me?  
  
"Thanks, man." He said, as soon as they had landed on the ground. She drifted a few feet away from them, close enough to hear them.  
  
Far enough for me to know that she's a loner. Alec almost smiled. She wants mind games? I'll give her mind games.  
  
"No, I should be thanking you two." Goku grinned, "If it weren't for you two, then Frieza... I was about to make my move, then you showed up, then the girl appeared a few moments later."  
  
"And how would you have made your move if you were still in space?" Alec asked.  
"I could, thanks to a technique I perfected," Goku grinned, "It's called Instant Transmission."  
  
Alec was startled for a second. Does he mean time travel?  
  
"That's when you form yourself into a beam of light. It's amazing how much faster you can go if you're traveling at 186,000 miles per hour." Goku finished.   
  
"But that's not what we're here for, is it?" Ender said in that quiet way of hers, her eyes pointedly on Alec.  
  
"All right." Alec surrendered. This was not a battle he could win, "But first of all, I have to ask you this," He directed his words toward Goku, "Can you transform into a Super Saiyan at will?"  
  
I know that she could click up whenever she wants, His eyes flickered over to her, But I'm not sure whether Goku can yet, and mother didn't tell me.  
  
"Well," Goku said, "At first I couldn't, because the whole process was spontaneous, but now, yes, I can transform whenever I want."  
  
"All right then. Can you transform right now?"  
  
"What?"  
  
* * * * *  
  
What is he trying to accomplish? Ender's thought to herself, watching the two of them, Is he just trying to figure out how strong Goku is? If so, he's going through a lot of trouble just to do so... She tuned out their voices, paying more attention to trying to analyze Alec's motives than what was going on.  
  
A split-second later, Goku was standing there with blond hair and blue-green eyes, his hair and clothes whipping around in the air.  
  
"Satisfied?" Goku said.  
  
"Yeah." Alec grinned. Ender was a bit surprised to see that, although she kept her face expressionless. Although Alec seemed to be easy-going, there was this seriousness, this intensity in everything he did.  
  
But he does have his light-hearted times... She mused, watching the youth.  
  
"Man... That's awesome. I'd forgotten what it looks like from the outside in." Alec said, still grinning.  
  
"So, what's next?" Goku said.  
  
Is he trying to get Goku to spar with him?  
  
"Now we both be Super Saiyans." Alec said as he powered up. In a moment, his now blond hair was whipping around the air above him, and the golden aura around his body formed.  
  
Ender looked at the two of them for a moment. SSJ Alec and SSJ Goku... This could get interesting...  
  
"We seem to be exactly the same..." Goku said.  
  
"Let's find out." said Alec.  
  
In a split second, faster than the human eye could follow, Alec's sword was out and it was swinging toward Goku. He stopped all of a sudden, the blade a few centimeters away from Goku's head.  
  
"Why didn't you try to avoid it?" Alec said.  
  
"Because I sensed your true intentions, so I knew that you would stop."  
  
"Yes I see..." Alec said, lowering the blade to get a better grip on it, "But this time, I'm not going to stop, get it?"  
  
Goku smiled, held up his index finger, "I get it."  
  
"Good."  
  
* * * * *  
  
Moving at speeds that only Super Saiyans could detect, Alec swung the blade over and over, but each time, Goku blocked the swing with ease _with his finger_.   
  
I did expect something like that, after all that mother told me, Alec thought to himself grimly as the blade whistled toward Goku's head, But does he have to be so damned _flashy_ about it? The blade stopped two centimeters from the Saiyan's throat; he had deflected it enough so that it couldn't hurt him. For a moment they held that position, the golden aura around them rising and falling like flames.  
  
Then Alec stepped back, sheathed the blade, "So...everything I heard about you is true... You're good."  
  
No. He's great.  
  
"Well, your heart just wasn't in it this time."  
  
"Goku, I feel like I can trust you." And the girl too, for some inexplicable reason, "I had to know that for sure. I'm going to tell you everything, but it all has to kept secret. Otherwise, I'm not quite sure what will happen."  
  
"Well, I've never had problems keeping secrets before..." Goku laughed, "You have my word." Alec looked at the girl, and she gave the faintest possible nod.  
  
"Thank you." He almost whispered the words, but she heard them anyway. "My name is Trunks." He said, watching Goku to force himself not to pay attention to Ender, "This is going to sound very strange, but I'm from twenty years in the future."  
  
* * * * *  
  
It was hard to believe how easy it was to accept that Alec wasn't from this time.   
  
Some things just are like that, She continued to listen to the young demi-Saiyan talk, Of course it helps that all the evidence points in that way. But damn, Goku's taking this way too lightly...  
  
Figures...He's like that.   
  
Trunks... She tried the new name out. No good. She'd already gotten used to calling him Alec in her thoughts.  
  
Fine then. He introduced himself to me as Alec, he'll stay as Alec.  
  
"Vegeta was right. There are only three people here with Saiyan blood: you, your son, and Vegeta. I got mine from him. He's my father."  
  
"What? You're kidding!"  
  
Trust me, he's not.  
  
"You're positive that he's your father?"  
  
Ender shook her head. Goku may be the best warrior she had ever seen, but he was so naïve.... Hurry up. She urged him in her mind, Accept that Vegeta's going to have a child. Move on. I want to hear the rest of what he's going to say.  
  
"Yes. I'm half Saiyan, half human."  
  
"Vegeta's son..." Goku whirled around, to where the Saiyan prince was standing, "Yes, I can see the resemblance..."  
  
"I will be born two years from now." Alec said.  
  
"So...then...who's your mom?"  
  
Alec shook his head, "She's standing right over there."  
  
"Bulma?" Goku exploded.  
  
"The concept's not that strange." Ender said, "But you're getting a bit off the point. That's not what he came here for."  
  
"Right." Goku stopped, shaking his head.  
  
And slowly, Alec painted a picture of a future of hiding away, a time when the world was dominated by two beings: Androids who called themselves Seventeen and Eighteen, who destroyed their creator, Dr. Gero, as soon as they were activated.  
  
Gero... I've heard of him. He's that scientist who quit BioTech Co. a few months ago to work on his own projects.   
  
Are his 'projects' the androids?  
  
As Alec kept on talking, he went into more detail about how all of the Z fighters died in the first battle against the androids.  
  
"All except for Gohan, at least..." Alec said, "My best friend and mentor. He taught me almost everything I know..." He glanced to his left for a second, where the Z gang, and Gohan, was standing, "But thirteen years later..."  
  
"Hey, but what about the dragonballs?" Goku asked.  
  
"They died along with Piccolo during the first fight with them." The girl said. Sometimes, Goku wasn't exactly the brightest person around.  
  
"Wait," Goku protested, "How about me? Don't I fight? Do I die during the battle as well?"  
  
"You die before." Alec said.  
  
"What?"  
  
"It's a new strain of heart virus. You'll start hearing about it soon. You catch it sometime next year and die a few days later."  
  
"What? What about the androids! I want to fight them! I know I have the power to make a difference!"  
  
Typical for Goku. Coming across as sounding so childish, but he's all heart.  
Time travel is theoretically impossible. Ender mused as Goku continued to argue with Alec/Trunks. But he's found some way... No. Probably not him...His mother, maybe. She was always brilliant, although her behavior sometimes hides that.   
  
She continued to ignore the two men's arguing and began focusing on one thought until she could make it become reality.  
  
The idea of time travel.  
  
"After all I told you," Alec was saying when she turned back to the conversation, "You still want to fight them?"  
  
"Of course!"  
  
Alec smiled for a second. Then he reached into his jacket pocket and took out a small bottle, filled to the brim with a transparent purple-tinged liquid, "Take this, man." He held it out toward Goku, "For your health."  
  
Goku took it, "What is it?"  
  
"There isn't a cure for the heart disease now, but twenty years later there is."  
They continued to talk, but it was nothing relevant, so once again Ender tuned them out, focusing her attention to her own thoughts.   
  
Two androids. If they're androids, then they'll have to have designs of them somewhere, most likely on a computer. No human could keep that much information in their head, and it takes way to long to sketch out designs... Maybe I could hack into that computer... It'll take a lot of luck though.  
  
"I have to be going." Ender said.  
  
"Wait!" Goku said.  
  
Ender turned back.  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"..." There was a long silence as she considered before she spoke, "It doesn't matter... Call me Ender." Then she shot up in the air.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"So, what was that all about?" Yamcha asked as soon as Goku came back.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"What? Then what the hell was he talking to you about?" Vegeta shouted.  
  
"Not much, really."  
  
"Who is he?" Bulma said.  
  
"I don't know."  
  
Piccolo glared at the Saiyan for a few seconds before speaking, "Goku. We have a right to change our future, too."  
  
"What? You heard?"  
  
"My ears do more than frame my face you know."  
  
"..."  
  
"I won't say anything that will endanger your friend, but I think that we should all know what's going on."  
  
"...All right then."  
  
* * * * *  
  
Why didn't she ask about her future? Even Goku wanted to know what happened to him... Most people would love to know what is yet to come...  
  
But, she's not like most people, is she?  
  
* * * * *  
  
Ender let the wind whip through her hair and clothes as she flew over the forests that indicated she was only a few miles from the cavern she called home.  
  
May 12, at ten AM, the island nine miles southwest of South City. That's where Alec told us the androids would show up...  
  
I'll be there.  



	4. The Visit

Disclaimer: DBZ does not belong to me. I am not making any money off this, etc, therefore it would be completely pointless to sue me over this one little fanfic. Also, to answer a question I've been asked about twenty times, no, I had never, ever read Ender's Game before writing this story. Whatever similarities between this fanfic and OSC's writings are purely coincidental, believe it or not.  
  
Fire and Ice  
  
Chapter Four, The Visit  
  
Ender threw down the tools she was holding and sat down on the stone floor, suddenly feeling exhausted. Cramped muscles unclenched a little as she let herself relax for the first time in months. She needed rest, sleep. She had been working almost non-stop for...how long? A long time, anyway, training when her eyes began getting sore from staring at the electronic screen before her, buying supplies when needed, but otherwise, all she did was sit in front of the computer console and work.  
  
A year ago, two days after the arrival of Alec, she had abandoned every other project she was on and began a new one: to duplicate Alec's time machine. She knew it was possible, so the sole question remaining was how.  
  
But she didn't spend all of her time on the project. At least at first, she spent a lot of her time on the Internet, where identities and purchases could be layered over and over again in a labyrinth of complexity so deep that only the best of hackers could guess her identity. Some of her time went toward finding information on a certain Dr. Gero and his creations, but most of it was devoted to trying to find the electronic trail that Gero used to create his androids. The path had to exist, but she had no luck in all the time she had been searching.  
  
But that was only to be expected. Gero was a master hacker. So she paused in her work. Didn't stop, just paused, and moved onto more pressing matters- the androids and the time limit of three years.  
  
After two months of designing and working in a room she had rented that was far too small for her things, she had reluctantly faced the fact that she had to move back to the cavern that she hated so much, the one that she had vowed to only reside in during winters, because it was the sole place that would hold all of her equipment. So she had made the transition, and forced the bad memories associated with this place away.  
  
But even after weeks of experimentation in a larger place, she couldn't get it right. She had come close, she had a full sized working model with limitations, but that was it. She had figured that the time machine needed some part that was not yet invented.  
  
So, once again, she dropped the whole thing.  
  
She used the limited version she had created, modified it, and made it a gateway between dimensions. She knew how it worked, but so many of its procedures were tied up in theories that while she was building it, she had been forced to design new software for the programming and testing.  
  
She had bought most of her materials online, using different screen names for each purchase. She doubted that any hacker could follow her movements online, but she wasn't that worried about hackers. Only an insane idiot would be interested in tracing multiple SNs buying equipment online.  
  
Then she had worked for nine months.  
  
The machine had taken up just a little over seven of those nine months to build, to tell the truth, but it had taken a long time to locate the right timeline- Alec's timeline.  
  
It had been hard to find it within the maze of parallel universes splitting off one another. She had to figure out a new way of categorizing these lines, so she divided them into sectors and zones; each sector's timelines were almost like parallel universes to each other, with only very small differences. A zone was a timeline where time ran differently from hers.   
  
But still, there were an infinite amount of these lines to sort through, and it had given her headaches for a week while she struggled to write the coding that would instruct her computer to classify them without having her to do it manually. She had to sell her old equipment, then spend all of the money she got from that to buy a better computer and the upgrades she required. By then, she was drained- barely able to function anymore, but she forced herself to do work. If she stopped, she knew she wouldn't be able to make herself continue the project any longer.  
  
As soon as the program was written, there was no celebration, no inward satisfaction. She was so tired that she had just shook her head and gone to sleep for a few days.  
  
When she woke up, Ender had done her calculations to find the general area where the time machine must have came from, using the initial blast of pure energy left by Alec's flashy departure in the time machine. So she had eliminated all of the timelines that didn't show that same showy burst of power at the time of Alec's departure.  
  
Still, there was something like half a billion parallel universes left to comb through one by one. She then got rid of all of the ones where Alec had never been born, where Bulma had died, where any members of the Z gang were still alive, where Goku had not died of a heart disease, gradually getting through the piles of information. After she was done, there were still over a hundred million timelines. It was a staggering number, but at least the load was lightened.  
  
Then, after all that, she had to find the miniscule thread linking her universe to Alec's, the filament created when Alec made contact with her time and changed this world's destiny.  
  
She had gotten very lucky. She could only go through a few thousand of the timelines a day, looking for the very subtle link between two worlds. She had expected it to take at least six months to comb through everything. It had taken her three weeks. The strand of energy that still linked their two worlds together was wavering, almost gone when she found the lines. A few weeks more and it would have been gone.  
  
Coordinates 20.82.244, SRC264, ZHW1109.  
  
The machine still hadn't been tested yet, because it would take too long to program in a test subject. It had taken her two weeks of sleepless nights and missed meals to enter all of her own components into the state-of-the-art computer, and now she was tired.  
  
[I'll try it out after I go to sleep....]  
  
* * * * *  
  
The sound of water running near her was in the air, as the leaves crackled beneath her. She had no idea what the hell was going on, but she knew that this couldn't be right.  
  
He was handsome, with icy blue eyes, slanted, and long black hair that hung down to his shoulders. He seemed to be in good shape, his whole body sinewy and tight, but at the same time, he was slender enough to look almost vulnerable.  
  
She had no chance against him.  
  
He looked at her for a moment, and she felt naked all of a sudden, although she was clothed. He smiled, but his pale blue eyes stayed so cold as his long hair fell, brushing her face. His fingers traced a line from her cheekbone to her throat.  
  
He whispered soft words, a mockery of affection, the quiet voice almost emotionless.  
  
* * * * *  
  
She sucked in a sharp breath as she bolted upright. For a second, she panicked, wondering if she was there again by the waterfall. Then she forced the memory down and opened her eyes.  
  
[Damn. Not this again...]  
  
For the past three months she had been too fatigued to dream, and now...  
  
[Not this.]  
  
She pulled the covers aside. No chance of getting any sleep now. Might as well get up. Take a shower. Test out the damn thing.  
  
And the frickin' machine had better work.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Ender stepped out the icy waters at the bottom of the waterfall, reaching for a towel. She dried herself in a hurry, for there was a cold wind blowing and she had no desire to get sick. She shook her head. There was a faster way to do this. For the first time in weeks, she let her ki surface, the aura springing up around her, drying her body and hair as the warmth spread.   
  
She didn't like using her Saiyan powers. She didn't like to be too dependent on them, or if something ever happened to her energy, she'd be helpless. But in times like this, it did come in handy.   
  
She dressed. T-shirt, jeans, jacket.  
  
Haven't trained much lately... She realized, tying her hair back. She had let it grow out, and now the jet-black strands came down a little past her shoulders. No matter. I can make up for lost time _after_ I find Alec.  
  
She stepped up to the gateway and began plugging in coordinates, then waited for the gate to power up.  
  
The air shivered, and the opening that would lead to another place pulsated, bolts of electricity crackling around it. For an instant, the gate went blank, but Ender waited. She had run every known simulation in the world on the possibility of this gate working, and they had all came back with one answer.  
  
Sure enough, the gate crackled again, and with one final shudder, it settled down, and the opening changed into a view of a different world.  
  
Now this was where the certainty ended. The same simulations had shown different results. About two-thirds of them had said that the gate would kill off any human that tried to go through it, since the gate actually drained a person's power to fuel that person's passage.  
  
She was hoping that, being demi-Saiyan, she would have the power needed for passage through the gate. Ender eyed the contraption with a mixture of uncertainty and determination. She had to go through, that much was true. She had too many questions that had to be answered.  
  
But wouldn't it be better to be alive and uncertain than uncertain and dead?  
She stood there for a moment, her feet on the cusp of another world, letting the wind of Alec's timeline rustle her clothes and hair.  
  
No.   
  
Been there, done that.  
  
She took a step forward.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Bulma was cooking dinner, when she heard several knocks at the door, and voices outside that sounded like it was coming from a crowd. She sighed. If those people wanted another explanation for something or the other, they'd be more polite to a demi-Saiyan than to her.  
  
"Trunks!" She shouted, "Could you go get it please?"  
  
Trunks got up from the kitchen table, putting down the book he had been reading. He strode to the door, making a mental note of the page he had been on as he opened the door to find a very unnerved couple leading a crowd of people.  
  
"Trunks!" The man said, nervous, "She, she..."  
  
"Just appeared out of thin air..." The woman said, her voice fading.  
  
"What?" Trunks said, stepping out of the doorway "Where?"  
  
"I did apologize for scaring them," A voice said, coming from close to him, an oddly familiar voice from a year ago, "I didn't mean to, and I told them that. But they're still hysterical." Alec turned to his right, and for a few moments, all he could do was stare.  
  
She was standing there leaning against the wall outside of his doorway casually, looking almost the same as the last time he'd seen her, her jet-black hair longer now, but those slanted blue-green eyes still looking at him with the same smooth air as a year ago, her movements every bit as graceful. Still beautiful.  
  
"Hello, Alec."  
  
* * * * *  
  
After she had come into Alec's home and Alec had explained all he knew to the rather frightened crowd, they were still a little unsettled, but at least they had stopped thinking that she was one of Gero's newest android creations.  
Sometimes humans can be amusing. She thought dryly as the couple insisted on knowing how she had appeared out of thin air.  
  
"Some technology of hers, I suppose..." Alec said, "I want to know that myself..." He glared at her. She shook her head and jerked a finger toward the doorway in such a way that none of the people outside could see it. The action was unmistakable. Get rid of them.  
  
"Look, Mr. and Mrs...."  
  
"Reidenger."  
  
"Reidenger. Please give me a second to talk to her. As soon as I know what's going on, I'll explain everything to the crowd here. I promise."  
  
"All right, I suppose..."  
  
"Thank you. Could you please tell the others as well? Thank you. Yes, I'll explain everything in a few minutes. Yes, I'll have to make an announcement. Give me an hour. All right. Thank you. Goodbye." He closed the door, leaning against it with an aggravated sigh.  
  
"Dammit, couldn't you have given me a little warning that you were going to visit?"  
  
"Sorry. It's hard to pinpoint where exactly you're going to land from a couple thousand timelines away."   
  
It was impossible to tell whether she was being sarcastic or serious, "You could have sent a note in first."  
  
"No I couldn't have. Number one, you'd never have noticed something as little as that, and number two, they're so goddamn jumpy that they would still be intimidated at a piece of paper appearing out of-"  
  
"Trunks!" Bulma called from the kitchen, "Who is it?"  
  
* * * * *  
  
"-She's just a friend, who's somehow figured out a way to travel between timelines." Alec explained to the people around him, "That's all." He sighed in relief as the crowd dispersed little by little.  
  
[It's all your fault.] He glared at Ender.  
  
She caught his glance, "I already explained that-"  
  
"I know, I know." He stretched and watched as she began to walk away, "Hey, hey. Where're you going?"  
  
"To look around." She said, deliberately continuing to walk in the opposite direction from Alec's home, "Figuring out how you managed to build almost everything underground."  
  
"Easy. See the rock of the walls?" He rapped it with two knuckles, "That's solid granite. This entire place is a huge quarry. Took us forever to blast out the rooms using dynamite before I figured out how to control my detonations, but the good thing about living underground is that it's warmer during the winters and cooler during the summers. The constant temperature and lack of harsh weather also helps the crops."  
  
"Crops..."  
  
"With the right irrigation channels and with a few sunlamps around, we can grow plants, for food." He said, "It took us a long time to carry the soil down for plants as well and to created the drainage in the planting rooms." He shook his head, "Any more questions?"  
  
"Show me the plants."  
  
Alec stared at her for a second.  
  
[Direct little thing, isn't she?]  
  
"Can it wait?" Alec said, "Mother was cooking dinner the last time I saw her.   
  
Aren't you hungry at all?"  
  
"All right." She said, not answering his question at all, "But afterwards..."  
  
"I'll give you the grand tour."  
  
* * * * *  
  
"So," Bulma said thoughtfully, still cooking at the stove, "You created a machine that allows you to travel in between timelines? That's interesting... What does it run on?" She glared at her son, who was standing a few feet away from them with an exasperated look on his face. He clearly wanted the conversation to end so that he could yell at the girl. What was her name? Ender?  
  
Ender shook her head, ignoring the demi-Saiyan behind her, "That's the problem. It runs on electricity to power up, but for the passage, it needs ki, in a sense. I don't think that humans can go through it without getting killed, but Saiyans have enough power to spare."  
  
"So what you're saying is that only you and I can go through this gateway?" Alec said, beginning to pace. Ender considered him for a moment.  
  
[Almost like a caged animal.]  
  
"Yes." Ender said, "And in my timeline, Goku, Gohan, and Vegeta can go through it as well, but that's it, unless I find some way to modify it."  
  
"I see..." Bulma drifted off for a second, thinking, then snapped back to attention, "You know, I heard of a theory that said that if you traveled to another timeline, then time would run in a different way..."  
  
"If you're not in the same zone, yes." Ender said.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Bulma said.  
  
"To keep everything straight in my head, I group timelines in which time runs at a similar pace together and call them zones."  
  
"And your timeline and my timeline are in the same zone?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"And after you go through this gateway, can you go back?"  
  
"No."  
  
Alec almost choked, "Then what the hell are you planning to do?" He shouted, not bothering to hide the fury in his voice, "Live with us?"  
  
"Build another gateway here." Ender said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.  
  
"It's not as easy as that..."  
  
"Oh, I think she's right..." Bulma said, glaring at her son, "It should be possible...provided that I know what parts I need."  
  
"I brought a copy of the plans for the machine." Ender said.  
  
"Where are they?" Alec said. God, how can they be so damned calm? She could be stranded here forever, but she doesn't act like she cares...  
  
Ender patted her jacket pocket, "Capsuled."  
  
Bulma nodded, but Alec gave an exasperated sigh, "The last time I saw you, I thought you said that capsules could only carry specific things?"  
  
"The Bulma from my place improved them."  
  
"Whatever." Bulma said, "Let's see those plans." Ender nodded, and picked out a capsule. She clicked the small button, threw it at the ground a few feet away, and a chest of drawers appeared. Ender took the key out of her pocket, unlocked it, dug through papers and disks inside. She rummaged through the files for a moment, then got up with a few CD-ROMs in her hand. Bulma took them and flipped through them, looking at the labels.  
  
"Mother?" Alec said, "Stove?" He nodded his head at the direction of the kitchen.  
  
"Oh." Bulma said absently, already heading toward the door that would lead her to the lab. Alec shook his head and turned the stove off for her.   
  
"You mind if I look through the rest of that?" Bulma said, nodding her head toward the chest of drawers.  
  
"No."  
  
"Thanks." Bulma said, "Make Trunks give you a tour around the place. I'll be looking at these."  
  
* * * * *  
  
"You're mad at me." Ender said as soon as she was sure Bulma couldn't hear them. It wasn't a question.  
  
Alec pushed the door open so hard that it slammed against the wall, "Had it ever occurred to you at any one time that you might not have been welcome here?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Why the hell did you come?"  
  
"I figured that even if you had kicked me out, I could find somewhere else to live for a while until I managed to build another gateway. There wasn't much chance of you making me leave, anyway."  
  
That was true. He hated to admit it, but he couldn't deny that.  
  
"Fine. Did you ever consider the risks of going through that gateway?" He continued to walk on, not caring whether she followed.  
  
"Yes." She said.  
  
"Well, then, you shouldn't have done it!"  
  
"Professional risk."  
  
"Dammit, Ender-"  
  
"No, listen to me. You're demi-Saiyan. Fighting is a skill that you're born to master. It's your life. I'm a Saiyan and, unlike my predecessors, who had more brawn than brains, I'm also an inventor. Fighting and creating are the two things my life revolves around."  
  
"But-"  
  
"Alec, stepping through that gateway was no different than fighting Frieza. I could have been killed either way, but that doesn't matter anymore."  
  
"Yes it does!"  
  
"No it doesn't. I'm alive. Nothing happened. And I'm using the identical plans to create a second gateway that will work as well as the first."  
  
Alec stopped and just stared at her for a moment.  
  
[She's so dispassionate about dying. ]  
  
She stopped walking and watched him. No sign of impatience. No sign of anger.  
  
[She's always calm no matter the circumstances. That trait of hers is so unnerving and so striking at the same time. She's....different. From every other girl I've met.]  
  
Pale blue-green eyes watched him, emotionless. He had forgotten how unnerving those eyes were.  
  
[Cold as ice...]  
  
"A year ago, when you were fighting Frieza," Alec said, forcing his anger away, "You said that you were seventeen, almost eighteen. So that would make you nearly nineteen now."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"How old are you physically?"  
  
"Fourteen."  
  
"So how is that possible?"  
  
"Ever heard of the theory of relativity? If you go outside in a spaceship and start traveling at the speed of light, then you'd come back younger than you are supposed to be."  
  
"So you've been in space then."  
  
"Yes. For five years."  
  
"And you didn't grow older in all that time?"  
  
"..." She just looked at him.  
  
"Okay.... Sorry. Stupid question. Then, what were you doing in space?" He watched her face for an expression, any expression.  
  
"That's another story." She said, her face every bit as neutral as before, "Show me the irrigation channels."  
  
* * * * *  
  
[Everything in this place is simple and bare.] Ender realized as she went through room after room, [There's nothing luxurious. Makes sense...what could you expect when they've been living underground since the invasion of the androids?]  
  
And despite every attempt to make the underground caverns look more comfortable, the fact remained that everything was a struggle for survival. For instance, the crops looked as if they had been doing poorly, probably since the soil had been used and reused far too many times. But the people living underground couldn't get more, since it would mean risking themselves in the open air and exposing themselves to the androids.  
  
But the problems ran deeper than that. From what Alec told her, she had assumed there were several more of these cities all over the world, hiding them from the view of the androids. Since human ki could still be sensed if there were enough people around, each city could only hold one to two hundred people or so, depending on its size.   
  
The space factor was a problem in itself. Every once in a while, some overpopulated place's ki would be tracked down by the androids and destroyed, meaning that nearby cities had to take survivors in. Also, like any residence, there were children. Sooner or later, overpopulation would force everyone to build more cities, which would mean going above ground and exposing themselves to the androids, which would mean casualties, which would mean...  
  
[Maybe Alec and I, together, could do something...] Ender mused, [One of us draws the androids away, or at least keeps an eye out for them, while the other picks up whatever this underground city needs.]  
  
"How many people are left?" Ender asked. It was a whimsical question, asked purely out of curiousity.  
  
Alec glanced at her, wondering how she could sound so detached about something this important, "After the destruction of what's left of the second North City, there's around 4,000 people within a 100 mile radius of this area. That's just about all I know. The radio signals are so old they can't broadcast too far anymore, and the rubble above us clogs them up anyway. A hundred miles is just about all we can do."  
  
"The Earth's surface area is about 200 million square feet." Ender said, "Divide that by three, since two-thirds of the earth is water, and you end up with about 66 and a half million square feet of land."  
  
"Whatever you say..." Alec said, amused despite himself.  
  
"You also said that there are 4,000 people in a radius of a hundred miles. So that means that there are 4,000 people occupying..." She considered for a moment, "31,400 square miles of land."  
  
"Then you divide 66 million miles2 by 31,4002, and you get..." Alec estimated the figures in his head, then shook his head, "That can't be right."  
  
"You get a little over 2,000." Ender said, "Multiply that by 4,000, since there are 4,000 people for every 31,400 miles squared...."  
  
"And you get..."  
  
"Eight and a half million people left in the world."  
  
"That's too little... That can't be right."  
  
"..."  
  
[I'm sorry...]  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Author's note: Another slow chapter, I know, but I promise it'll pick up... eventually... 


	5. The Attraction

Disclaimer: DBZ does not belong to me. I am not making any money off this, etc, therefore it would be completely pointless to sue me over this one little fanfic. Also, to answer a question I've been asked about twenty times, no, I had never, ever read Ender's Game before writing this story. Whatever similarities between this fanfic and OSC's writings are purely coincidental, believe it or not.  
  
Fire and Ice  
  
Chapter Five, The Attraction  
  
Alec punched in the numbers again.  
  
"200,000,000 / 3 / 31400 x 4000 =..." He waited for a second as the calculator did the math, "8492569.0021231... Damn... damn..." He slammed his fist against the keys, watching the numbers flash dully, "Damn them..."  
  
"How long has he been like that?" Bulma asked Ender, quietly, so that Alec wouldn't know that they were eavesdropping.  
  
"Ever since we walked back in..." Ender said, her voice as soft as Bulma's. She walked back down the hallway, letting Alec have his privacy.   
  
Bulma shook her head as she followed Ender, "What kind of being has the power to reduce Earth's population from billions to eight and a half million? Trunks must have some idea, but he doesn't tell me..."  
  
Ender wanted to she could say what she was thinking. She wanted to tell Bulma how that wasn't the question, since even a demi-Saiyan could destroy the world if they wanted to. The question is why such a being would do something like that... But she didn't. She couldn't.  
  
Bulma was one of the few people left underground who still had some hope for the future. Ender didn't want to crush it.  
  
* * * * *  
  
[How old was I when I first found the meaning of death? Thirteen? Fourteen? When did I first realize that the androids were so...ruthless?]  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Sometimes," Bulma said, walking back into the workshop and gesturing for Ender to follow her, "I wonder how the androids could be so cold."  
  
"No use." Ender said. She walked into Bulma's lab, closed the door behind them and glanced over the room, "No point in sitting around and wondering when you could be doing something."  
  
"But I am doing something." Bulma said, indicating the machinery all around her in the workshop, "I'm duplicating the machine you invented. That's major."  
  
"I don't see how. You already have the time machine."  
  
[Well,] Bulma considered as she tried to find the right words to explain, [At least she's honest.]  
  
"The time machine is rather..." She said.  
  
"Crude."  
  
"That's not the way I would have put it, but..."   
  
"Crude. Not in the sense that it's poorly constructed, but in the sense that sometimes it can alter or even destroy timelines by accident. The gateway, on the other hand, is more like a doorway that a transportation device, and because of that, doesn't hurt its environment as much?"  
  
"Yes. We're going to need help, if we're to survive any longer." Bulma said, switching on a computer, "The thing is, we can't get all of the help we need from the people we have left here."  
  
"What you're saying is," Ender said, "That you need someone to destroy the androids. Either that or at least provide enough back-up to help you do so."  
Bulma hid a smile, [And smart enough to make conclusions on her own.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
[Was it when Gohan died?]  
  
[No... I couldn't have been that naïve. I had to have some idea before that. Even when I was just a child, I must have known that there was more to life than hiding underground.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
"The thing is," Bulma said, choosing her words carefully, "Right now, even if all the fighters from my timeline and yours came together to face the androids, I doubt that we could beat them." [Give her a little information, see if she can reach her own conclusions.]  
  
"And getting more fighters wouldn't help. After a while, they'd just get in each other's way... So if defeating the androids isn't the help you need... or at least it's not your immediate concern..." Ender said, "...Then what you're worried about is resources?"  
  
"Exactly. At the rate we're going, at most, we can last underground another five to ten years. After that, we're going to need more supplies. Even right now, we're trying to get by with too little, so we can conserve for the future."  
Ender reflected on that for a moment, "Well then," She said after a long silence, "I suppose I should help you build this thing..."  
  
* * * * *  
  
[Maybe it was during the first time I snuck above ground and saw the destruction the androids had done to the world.]  
  
[Maybe it was then...]  
  
* * * * *  
  
"How long will it take to build this thing?"  
  
"It took me seven and a half months in my timeline."  
  
"That long?"  
  
"It shouldn't take so long here, because I was doing the experimentation along with the building back then. I'd say, four, five months or so?"  
  
"And you'll be staying with us during that time?"  
  
"...Depends."  
  
* * * * *  
  
[...I lost the chains of innocence...]  
  
[...That my loving mother had forged to protect me...]  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Do you have all of the materials for the gateway?"  
  
"I brought as many as I could, and you have most of what I need here, but I'll probably have to go above ground a few times in the next couple of days, to find the rest of the supplies."  
  
"All right. Be careful. And don't be afraid to ask Trunks for help if you ever need it. He needs the distraction, anyway."  
  
"...Yes."  
  
* * * * *  
  
She lay flat on her back, brushing a strand of dark hair away from her eyes as she started to build the frame for the gateway. She glanced over at the computer console, where an enlarged design was on the screen.  
  
Bulma had fallen asleep hours ago on the desk, and as Ender took a long look at her for the first time, she realized how old she looked. Stress and constant worry had worn away a woman who had once been beautiful. Now that attractiveness had been replaced by something more becoming for a woman her age- Strength. Dignity.  
  
[I wish I could be as strong as her.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Ender?" Alec said, "Shouldn't you be asleep?"  
  
"Let me get this done." She said, not looking at him as she continued to work. Alec smirked. There was only about a third of the frame up, although she had been working for over a week. He had helped, and Bulma had helped, but it was obvious that Ender was the only one who really knew what she was doing, so for the most part, they had left her alone.  
  
"Even Bulma's asleep. You need to rest."  
  
"...."  
  
Alec looked at her, looked at the detached air that she had wrapped around herself to protect herself, and wondered, not for the first time, how she could just radiate coldness and intensity, at the same time.  
  
[I wish I could be as strong as her.]  
  
"Here," He found himself saying, "I'll help. Get things done faster so that we can both get some sleep."  
  
* * * * *  
  
When Bulma woke up the following morning, she was in her own bed, even though she remembered that she had fallen asleep in the workshop. She threw her blankets off herself and got up a little groggily, almost stumbling over the covers as she went out the door.  
  
The whole house was quiet as she walked down the hallway past the kitchen to the door that would lead to the workshop. She looked at the clock. Nine-thirty AM.   
  
[Shouldn't Trunks be up by now? He's an early riser...]  
  
She opened the door a crack and smiled.  
  
Her son was still asleep, the fingers of his right hand on the keyboard of the computer, his head resting on the forearm of his other hand. The computer screen was flashing from picture to picture. It took Bulma a moment to realize it was because Trunk's hand was still pressing down on the keyboard. She walked over, moved the hand.  
  
Ender was also asleep, but she was leaning against the wall, eyes closed, head tilted back a little. Bulma watched her for a moment, wondering how she could look so intense even as she slept.  
  
[She's so...so...] She couldn't find the right word. Instead, she closed the door behind her as she left, letting the two of them get the rest they needed.  
  
* * * * *  
  
His eyes opened to the soft glow of the computer screen, stuck on the image of a side view of the gateway Ender was building. For a moment he was disorientated, wondering where he was, before he remembered.  
  
[Looks like I fell asleep in the workroom last night.]  
  
He couldn't blame himself. He hadn't been getting enough sleep for a while, so he had just managed to stay up until five or so in the morning before he crashed. He had woken up only out of force of habit.   
  
He lay there for a second, then got up with a quiet groan, stretching out the aches that had developed over the night from the awkward position. He glanced over at the framework of the gateway, now about halfway finished.  
  
[Need some more work on that. Maybe Bulma would explain some of this technical stuff to me, like she always wanted to.]  
  
Ender was standing a few feet away from him, leaning against the wall. She was asleep. Her head was tilted back a little, her arms crossed over her chest, a slight frown on her face.  
  
[She looks a softer when she sleeps.]  
  
He considered the slender frame.  
  
[No. Softer isn't the word for it. Just...younger.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
[She bit the inside of her cheek as he slammed her against the cliff face behind her, but she forced herself to try to ignore the pain. Blood flooded the inside of her mouth as she clenched her teeth, willing herself to hold on just a little longer.]  
  
[Why can't you just leave me alone?]  
  
["Won't cry out?" He inquired, his voice low and soft, "Proud enough not to give me that pleasure, I suppose..." He smiled, his eyes staying as cold as ever as he bent down to whisper in her ear, his breath warm against her skin, "But why not? You've already given me enough."]  
  
["Bastard..." She hissed.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
Pale blue-green eyes opened so sharply that he was startled for a moment. He watched the look in her eyes change into an almost panicked expression before both of them calmed down. The icy shield was back.   
  
"Good morning." She said, her voice even. So even that it was hard to these were the same eyes that had, just a moment ago, been filled with fear. She pushed against the wall so that she stood, every movement almost languid.  
Dammit, she's closed herself up again.  
  
For a second he was angry, angry at his missed chance to see the true Ender, angry at her for being so damned indifferent.   
  
Then he fought it down. It was still there, seething at the surface, but it was more controlled.  
  
[Sorry, Ender, but you're not as cold as you'd like to be.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
[Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid...]  
  
[You forgot that you weren't in the privacy of your little cave, didn't you? Forgot that you were in Bulma's workshop.]  
  
[How was I supposed to know that he was standing over me like that when I woke?]  
  
[Baka. Should have had more control.]  
  
[Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid...]  
  
* * * * *  
  
[She's scared of something.]  
  
[Well, at least it proves that she's not altogether emotionless. And it also proves that she's not as strong as I thought she was. I always forget that despite everything...]  
  
[...She's just a girl.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Trunks?" Bulma called, hearing voices coming from the workroom, "Ender? Are you two up?"  
  
"Yeah," Trunks said, his voice getting clearer as she heard footsteps coming down the corridor. Ender came in first, darting a glance at Bulma before looking away, and then Trunks, who was obviously angry again.  
  
Bulma shook her head. Trunks was a controlled person who seldom reacted to anything, but upon the arrival of this girl, he had been showing emotions on his face that she hadn't seen in a long time. Anger. Confusion. Perplexity. She wasn't sure whether it was for the better or for the worse. She considered the two of them, standing near each other, but not together.   
  
She smiled.  
  
Better. Bulma's smile grew as he glared at Ender, and she just gazed back, indifference in her eyes. He's worried about her, and in the past, I'm the only person he was ever worried about in his life. Like it or not, he's attracted to her, and that should make things in this house very interesting for a while.  
  
She couldn't wait.  
  
* * * * *  
  
He still didn't know what to make of the young girl who called herself Ender. She was distant, but brilliant, every one of her moves calculated in advance. But so cold sometimes, that she barely seemed human.  
  
And yet...  
  
* * * * *  
  
[So, he knows.]  
  
[Not much though. All he knows is that something is making me have nightmares, and he's angry at me because I don't want to tell him.]  
  
[I've never understood why humans have different ways of getting angry at others. This demi-human in particular glares, ignores people, and after all that, pretends that he's not mad.]  
  
Ender shook his head.   
  
[He's undoubtedly his father's son.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
She sat in front of the computer console, pressing the enter button over and over, trying to find the right diagram that would provide a better view. This was the most delicate section of the frame, and if she didn't build it right, it'd collapse and take some of the other parts with it.  
  
After a few more minutes of searching, she found the chart and got up, then shook her head.   
  
[I could do this myself... But it's so much easier if I just asked someone to help me.]  
  
She wasn't about to ask Alec. He was still mad at her, so she figured that she would leave him alone for a while, let him get over his anger, and when he did, she knew that he would be the one to initiate conversation.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Hello." He said, so close to her that she was startled for a second. She turned a little, watched him as he drew a chair over and sat down next to her, then she turned back to the computer screen.  
  
"Do you need something?"  
  
"No. Wondered what you were doing. Wanted to know if you needed help."  
  
"I see..."  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Trunks?" Bulma called, "Ender?" She walked down the hallway, "Are you two here?" She checked their rooms, the kitchen, then finally, the workshop. There she found the two of them both bent over the computer screen, Ender's hand sweeping over the designs in explanation, while Trunks asked some question or the other.  
  
She smiled, then closed the door as quietly as she could.  
  
* * * * *  
  
[How does she manage to do that?] Alec asked himself sometime later, not for the first time, [She does things that annoy me all the time, but at the same time, she can make me realize that I have no justified cause in getting mad at her.]  
  
"Are you listening?" Soft voice, quiet, a little husky for a girl, but still feminine.  
  
"Sort of."  
  
[She's standoffish, but when the need arises, she doesn't have any problem talking to people.]  
  
[So, socially moronic by choice, or by nature?]  
  
She shook her head, "I was explaining about the programs?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
She's brilliant, but she doesn't like to show it.  
  
She watched him for a second, waiting for more of an answer, those strikingly exotic eyes still on him.  
  
[She's persistent. Give her a scrap of information and she'll annoy you with that calm way of hers until you tell her everything. If you don't, she figures it out herself eventually.]  
  
"So you weren't listening." She put one arm around the back of her chair and typing with the other, her slender fingers moving over the keyboard with a practiced ease.   
  
"..." He didn't answer. He was watching as she stretched languidly, admiring how the slender frame moved with a catlike grace.  
  
[She's beautiful.]  
  
"Are you listening now?"  
  
"Somewhat."  
  
[She's a mass of contradictions within herself. And all of that, put together creates this personality that both repels me...]  
  
[...and pulls me in at the same time...]  
  
* * * * *  
  
She shook her head. He just wasn't paying any attention. She couldn't blame him. He was a fighter, not a scholar. At least he had tried to concentrate, but he had been drifting off for the past couple of minutes.  
  
Well then. Might as well move onto a topic that he enjoys more.  
  
"How do you train?"  
  
"Hmm?" Alec said, but she could see that she had his attention.  
  
"How do you train?" She repeated, "If you go above ground, your ki level would be sensed by the androids, and if you stay here, then you'd destroy half the place."  
  
"You want to see?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
"Come on then." 


	6. The Memory

Disclaimer: DBZ does not belong to me. I am not making any money off this, etc, therefore it would be completely pointless to sue me over this one little fanfic. Also, to answer a question I've been asked about twenty times, no, I had never, ever read Ender's Game before writing this story. Whatever similarities between this fanfic and OSC's writings are purely coincidental, believe it or not.  
  
Fire and Ice  
  
Chapter Six, The Memory  
  
The place was vast, an underground cavern that stretched in miles in either direction. Every sound she made seemed loud, echoing against the walls as she continued to walk down, suddenly feeling small compared to the space around her. She touched the wall on her left. It crumbled a little under her hand. She shook her head. Didn't Alec say that the whole place was granite? Even a Saiyan couldn't damage that by just touching it. She frowned and examined it more closely.  
  
[It's shale...] She realized, [That's why it falls apart so easily.]  
  
"Do you have any lights in here?" She said.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
A flick of a switch, and the whole grotto was lit up, light streaming in from every direction. She shook her head, looking at cavern walls. They were layered with varying colors and soils. She looked at them for a moment, then turned to face Alec.  
  
"The whole place used to be-"  
  
"An underground river. I know." Alec was almost amused, watching her. She didn't notice, or if she did, she made no indication of it as she turned around to look at the walls again. The roof of the cavern was about fifty feet or so above them. Plenty of room for sparring.   
  
"Aren't you nervous about that?" She said, "This means that the rock is sedimentary. Soft. Capable of being destroyed."  
  
"No. That just means you have to be more careful about where you blast, that's all. It's only shale on the surface. A few feet below that and it gives way to granite. Either way, it blocks our ki signatures." She shook her head again, this time at Alec's easy confidence.  
  
"Guard." Alec said.  
  
She looked up, in time to see him charging toward her. For a second she was frozen, then she disappeared. Alec smiled, slowed down, and stood with his back close to the wall, so that she couldn't surprise him from behind when she reappeared.  
  
She materialized a few feet away from him, "You could have given me a little warning."  
  
"The androids aren't going to give you a little warning, remember?" He shrugged, then vanished. She shook her head, but all of her senses were on hyperalert, watching for that familiar ki signature.   
  
She formed a blast in her left hand, and waited, enjoying the feel of her power in her hand once again after so long.  
  
[This could be interesting.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
As soon as Alec reappeared, he was met with blasts coming toward him. So he did the only logical thing. He shot up in the air, letting them destroy the rock beneath him. He could see her beneath him, the dust from the explosion surrounding her. She looked up and almost smiled, then dematerialized.  
  
"Maybe we should stop trying to disappear." She said from behind him, her soft voice echoing off the cavern walls in the silence, "Makes things far too easy."  
  
"Is that an insult?" Alec grinned and clicked up into Super Saiyan mode, letting power waves rise around him as he made the transformation. He turned around.   
  
"Mmm." She said neutrally, that mocking half-smirk on her face, not quite a smile, but the closest to smiling he had ever seen her. Her power level rose, her hair turning golden, her pale eyes darkening, "Guard."  
  
Then he attacked.  
  
* * * * *  
  
[He's quick.] She noted to herself with some admiration, as she blocked blow after blow, waiting for an opening. It almost surprised her, how fast Alec could move when he wanted- she'd thought that the muscle on his body would've slowed him down...  
  
[I need more practice.] She was already feeling the strain on her muscles beginning to show. [Serves you right for slacking off for so long while you were building that gateway. No matter. I'll train more, now that I have a sparring partner.]  
  
She was patient, an odd trait in a Saiyan, but one that was useful in battles. As soon as she saw him hesitate for a split second, she struck out, hitting him once in the ribs, grabbing his wrist, and throwing him over her hip.  
  
He landed on the wall and rebounded off his feet. He looked up at her, grinned with that trademark smirk of his.  
  
[Not too bad. Most can't react to an attack that sudden.]  
  
[Well, then. Onto the second round.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
He rushed her, but she was already avoiding him, evading him neatly, and for the first time, Alec could understand the way she fought.   
  
A lot of combat was brute strength, true, destroying your enemy before he could destroy you, but not everyone was born with that strength. So with people like Ender, they had to make up for lack of power with evasion, speed, reflexes.  
  
[So this is a test to you. See how good I am, neh Ender?]  
  
They both stopped and charged, the air almost crackling with their powers as they collided in a flurry of blows, then backed off and waited, watching for flaws in each other's defenses.  
  
She caught one of his punches, holding the fist in her hand as he held one of her blows. With a little luck he'd be able to force her down. Their fingers laced together, power crackling  
  
[Almost romantic.] He thought wryly, [Except that we're sparring.]  
  
Her breath was coming faster, harsher.  
  
[She's tiring... Already?]  
  
He smirked, letting fresh power blaze around him. [Good. It'll be fun.] Not to be outdone, Ender did the same, forcing herself to ignore the discomfort.  
  
He yanked one arm back. In order to keep her balance, she let go of him, but he held on with his right hand, still jerking it back.  
  
[Keep her off balance.] He thought to himself, every movement done so often that it was almost instinct. He wrenched her arm down, careful not to break it by accident, and kneed her in the stomach.  
  
Now. Hip against outer thigh, yank arm down, _throw_. The same move she had used against him a few moments ago. Only this time, when she landed on the ground, he immediately pinned her down, not allowing her to escape.  
  
"Out of practice, Ender?"  
  
She wasn't responding.  
  
"Ender?"  
  
* * * * *  
  
{His body was pressing down, his bare skin against hers, just holding her, feeling her struggle beneath him. Instead of trying to stop her from fighting, he just reached out with his power, draining hers in an instant.}  
  
{"Dammit!" She hissed, feeling the last remnants strength leave her body, "You sonuva..." He twisted her arms up behind her with one hand, letting the other hand run over her body. She shuddered. It was short, subtle, but with senses like his, he could still feel it.}  
  
{"Are you scared?" He whispered in her ear.}  
  
{Her breath was coming unevenly as she forced herself to brace for the pain that was sure to come.}  
  
{He smiled.}  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Ender!"  
  
"I'm fine." She said, the voice almost a whisper.  
  
"Hell no, you aren't. What happened?"  
  
"...Sorry."  
  
"Sorry? _Sorry_? What does that mean? What the hell happened?"  
  
"Spaced out."  
  
"You don't ever space out."  
  
"..."  
  
"Christ Ender, you were out for so long! I was about to go and get Bulma to look at you. I thought you had a concussion or something. You have to tell me a little more than just 'sorry'!"  
  
"...I'm fine."  
  
"Yes, you're fine now, but this isn't the first time."  
  
"..."  
  
"The time I went back and met you. You 'spaced out' once then. And then that morning. You had a nightmare." Without a word, she got up, eyes so cold once again as she headed toward the door.   
  
"Ender!" He shouted after her retreating form.  
  
No answer. Just the tapping of her feet against the stone floor, growing quieter as she walked away. He hissed in fury and punched the wall, the frustration within him rising as the rock crumbled around his hands.  
  
[Dammit...]  
  
* * * * *  
  
[You think I want this? You think I like having these replays come into my head all the time? Every time I see eyes like his, hear a quiet, mocking laugh, glance at a person that looks like him out of the corner of my eye, these images resurface, then I remember. Then I have to live it all out again.]  
  
[You think I fuckin' want this?]  
  
* * * * *  
  
[That look in her eyes when she left...So cold.]  
  
[Ice. And fire. Cold intensity. Why does she have to be so damned... Forget it.]  
  
[Forget it before you get ticked off again.]  
  
[...Too late.]  
  
[She doesn't make sense. She's impossible. She's trying to solve her problems by herself. Doesn't she see? Doesn't she understand that, in order to heal, she has to open up to others as well?]  
  
[What's happened to her that's making her close in on everyone like this?]  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Dinner was lively, don't you think?" Bulma said bluntly as she washed dishes. Trunks looked up, a little surprised, then looked away again.  
  
"Talk to me here. I'm your mother. If you can't communicate with the woman who raised you, then that's pretty sad." Bulma said, turning off the water and putting a soapy hand on her hip as she turned around. Trunks didn't say anything. Bulma shook her head and continued to soap the dishes, "You had another fight with her, didn't you?"  
  
"..."  
  
"Trunks..."  
  
"She's so..."  
  
"Stubborn? Opinionated? Obstinate?"  
  
"No. Inverted."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"She doesn't say a thing about anything."  
  
Bulma smiled to herself.  
  
"Face it, Trunks." She grinned, and turned away so that Trunks wouldn't see the grin, "You're falling for her."  
  
"She's the coldest loner I've ever met. Why would I possibly want to-"  
  
"Vegeta." She said. Trunks stopped. Ever since he had gone back in time and met his father, he had never understood why his mother had ever been in love with someone like him. He was cold, rude, arrogant, but somehow, his mother had been able to see below all that to find something worthwhile.  
  
"It just proves," Bulma continued, "That anything's possible when it comes to something like this." By something like this, she meant love.  
  
He shook his head.  
  
* * * * *  
  
It wasn't hard to see why Alec was mad at her. He had been honest with her from the start, answering, explaining, hiding nothing. Because of that, even after the initial anger was gone, he would still be ticked because she would not, could not explain.  
  
And the reason for Alec's anger was also the reason she couldn't apologize. Because she couldn't explain. Anyway, his anger was unreasonable. He had made the decision to tell her what he did, and she had made her own decision to keep her past to herself.   
  
That was the excuse that she made to herself, anyway.  
  
[I wish I could tell someone. I truly wish that I could. But if I did, I'd lose their respect. They'd never look at me the same again.]  
  
[Since when did you care about what others think about you?]  
  
[Because he's different. He's the only person that I've gotten close to for years. He's the only person who I _think_ can understand, who can possibly comprehend what's made me into... who I am now.]  
  
[Yeah, and you thought the same thing about-]  
  
She exhaled through clenched teeth, forcing her mind into a complete blank. She shook her head and walked into the workroom, making herself focus on the building of the gateway. If she was lucky, she could finish the framework today before she went to sleep.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Bulma was almost fascinated by the way Ender and Trunks refused to apologize.  
  
Ender stayed in the workroom almost all the time, only coming out for meals every once in a while, and sometimes not even then. As soon as she finished, she would walk straight back into the workroom. Trunks would spend almost all his time training. Like Ender, he only came back for meals three times a day. And still, neither of them said a word.  
  
[When will they give up?] Bulma shook her head as she watched the two of them avoid making any eye contact, [It's been a week, and neither of them show any signs of relenting.] She had to smile. [Typical Saiyan stubbornness.]  
  
[They'll get over it.]  
  
[Eventually.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
One week. It had been only one week since their 'argument', as his mother put it, and that little jab of irritation that he felt every time he looked at her was gone. He couldn't understand why he was so willing to forgive her all of a sudden.  
  
[Maybe mother's right. Maybe I am 'falling'...]  
  
[For her?]  
  
For an anti-social creature who refused to talk about anything?  
  
[Yeah, sure...]  
  
* * * * *  
  
She stood in the cavern, and let herself concentrate, her ki rising up around her. As the picture in her mind gave her strength, her now-blonde hair began rising above her head as her eye color changed. She shot up in the air, clenched her fists, and felt the two swords appear in her hands like they had a thousand times before, like they had during the fight with Frieza.   
  
Like they had during those countless lessons with mother.  
  
[Are you watching now, mother?]  
  
[Do you know what I've become?]  
  
She looked at the blades, at her crudely etched name at the base of them. She had written those words herself a long time ago, when her mother had presented them to her as a birthday present.   
  
[I'm not a child anymore...but I'm still your daughter.]  
  
She'd have to get around to polishing those words off and writing in newer, more elegant ones, but even as she thought of it, she rejected the idea. She would leave those childish scrawls, to... remember. A lot of things.  
  
Back then, she hadn't thought much of it. It was a family tradition from her mother's side to give blades to a child on their fifth birthday.  
  
[She must have known, even then. She had to know that something was going to happen, especially since Frieza had been destroying planet after planet, and now, looking back, now I see...]  
  
It was true that those swords were longer and heavier than the swords that her neighbors received, more fit for an adult than for a child, but she adored them from the start. As soon as she mastered them, the blades gave her an edge over the other children her age. She practiced every day. Even up to the day the earth around them seemed to explode, and her parents sacrificed their lives to save hers.  
  
[That was why, wasn't it? That was the reason for the acceleration in lessons, the increased studies, the whispered words between my parents every time they thought I wasn't paying attention.]  
  
[How blind did they think I was?]  
  
She got into position and began her warm-up exercises, the blades cutting through the air. At times like these, she could almost hear her mother's voice in her head, even after so many years, telling her to hold her left arm up more, to get a tighter grip, teaching her the basics of swordsmanship so that she...  
  
[So that I could still expand on these basics even when you were gone...neh, mother?]  
  
[Frieza. I killed you, but nothing compares to the damage you have already done to my life.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
Even before he was anywhere near the cavern, he could already tell she was training. That ki signature was much weaker than his, the margin between their powers now greater than ever, but that was to be expected. She hadn't been keeping up in her training while she was building the gateway. He had.  
  
He found himself heading in the direction of the cavern, through the twisting maze of tunnels. He stopped, shook his head. What the hell was he doing? Still... what did he have to lose?  
  
[We need to talk, anyway. She and I.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
[It's pathetic how little I know of my past.]  
  
[The basics. That's all I know. The basics. What planet I came from. What race I am. How old I was when they died. Things like that that leave so much blank space to be filled in. Now, I can only guess.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
[She doesn't know I'm here.]  
  
He had been hiding his power level, true. He had to, otherwise she would have sensed him from a mile off, but if she had been concentrating, she would have still been able to detect him. He knew that.  
  
[What's on her mind right now?]  
  
[A year ago, I'd have given anything to have her memories, to know how she thinks. Now, I still would.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
[How did they meet? Why was I taught swordplay, something that Saiyans rarely learn? Why was the only Saiyan child on my planet?]  
  
[Well, I wasn't Saiyan. Demi-Saiyan. But still...]  
  
[Don't be ridiculous. You've asked yourself this question a million times and you've always come up with the same answer.]  
  
[...It's almost ironic, actually.]  
  
[The race of most amazing fighters, perfected by nature over time to be virtually indestructible...]  
  
[...are also incredibly, stupidly, life-threateningly stubborn..]   
  
[And being the arrogant beings they are, Saiyans don't often bond outside of their race. So, in the few cases when they do, it means that they're often banished from their home planet and forced to live on their mate's world.]  
  
[My father was strong. He had to be, to love my mother enough to accept imminent exile from his own family and to join her on an alien planet. When Frieza began putting pressure on the Saiyan planet Vegeta, that was when many Saiyans began marrying interracially, that was when they began leaving their worlds for others. But Frieza got them all in the end, didn't he? They were cowards.]  
  
[My father...my father was different.]  
  
[He left his planet for love.]  
  
[Not for safety.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
He didn't know how long he had been there. But he didn't care. He regarded her from the shadows of the entrance, those twin blades arcing through the air, freezing that moment in his mind. At that instant, he felt as if he could stand there forever, just watching that body move.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Author's Note: What d'ya think? Please review, people. You have no idea how much it helps. 


	7. The Androids

Disclaimer: DBZ does not belong to me. I am not making any money off this, etc, therefore it would be completely pointless to sue me over this one little fanfic. Also, to answer a question I've been asked about twenty times, no, I had never, ever read Ender's Game before writing this story. Whatever similarities between this fanfic and OSC's writings are purely coincidental, believe it or not.  
  
Fire and Ice  
  
Chapter Seven, The Androids  
  
[Has it been this long already?] She stretched, eyes still on the data that was flashing by on the computer screen. [Three years seemed like an eternity when Alec first arrived. Now...]  
  
"Are you sure about this?" Alec said from behind her. She turned to look at him, but he was avoiding eye contact, those pale eyes of his on the moving code.  
  
She shook her head- she knew and he knew that he didn't know anything about programming languages. So why was he pretending? She mentally shrugged, turned back, and scrolled up to look at the coding she had missed, "You're being unreasonable. There's no reason that the gateway won't work. It was fine last time, remember?"  
  
"Still..."  
  
"And I'm checking it now."  
  
"You might have missed something."  
  
"I haven't."  
  
"...Did you enter my data in?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"This means that..."  
  
"You can go through the gateway whenever you want to enter any timeline. And you can go through my gateway as well."  
  
"...We can both fit in the time machine."  
  
"What's the point? We don't know how the time machine works with two people in it, do we?"  
  
"Yeah, but..."  
  
"And I know how the gateway works."  
  
"That's not my point."  
  
"So what is your point?"  
  
"I just..." [I just don't want you to get hurt.]  
  
"I'll be fine."  
  
* * * * *  
  
[She's changed.] Alec thought to himself, not for the first time.  
  
She was still cold, still so maddeningly systematic, but over time, that icy shield around her was beginning to lower, little by little. Sometimes, there would be unspoken sympathy, a reassuring word, a glance that said nothing but everything- small things like that.  
  
[But I still don't know a damn thing about her.]  
  
In two years, she had never mentioned her past, never mentioned her family, never mentioned anything about everything. No. That wasn't fair. She had told a few things. But only a few.   
  
Ender. An orphan. Parents were killed by Frieza when she was very young. Got by on her own, somehow, living through one year after another on her own in the wilderness. No human contact. At least, not until he showed up to fight Frieza, and then the only reason she appeared was because she wanted revenge.  
  
[What really bothers me though, is why she still won't tell me why she still 'blanks out', even now.]  
  
[Well, why should she? Everyone has their own little secrets.]  
  
It was a sort of unspoken agreement between the two of them. She would only tell him what she wanted him to know, and he would not press her for information. No more arguments, no more grudges. They spent almost all of their time together, because, despite everything, they were good company for each other. They could tell stories, reminisce about the people they knew, discuss their two different worlds, or just talk. Simple, mindless talk. All they had to do was set the boundaries for conversation, and then they could become...what? Comrades? Partners?   
  
Maybe even friends.  
  
But they never spoke about the androids. It was an uneasy subject, one that kept them edgy, so they kept away from it.  
  
She continued to work, her fingers moving over the keyboard, typing in instructions in a coding that he barely understood. She rested her head on her hand, leaning forward to study the monitor as she continued to type with one hand, forgetting the world around her as she resumed her role as the methodical Saiyan once again.  
  
[Ice... ]  
  
He shook his head, got up.  
  
[Two years. In two years, what...what I'm...feeling, towards her, has grown to more than just physical attraction. ]  
  
"Ender?" He wanted to explain, tell her that he didn't understand these emotions running through his mind right now.  
  
[Then what? What am I to say after that]? He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated with himself. [That I've been trying to... suppress... whatever I feel for her for such a long time?]  
  
"Yes?" She said.  
  
[No. I can't tell her that. I just... ]  
  
"...Never mind."   
  
She looked up, met his eyes for a second, pale blue-green eyes probing, searching, until he was sure that she could read every thought in his head, clear as day. She looked away.  
  
[Dammit! It should be so simple, and yet...why can't I just make myself open up to her?]  
  
[Because I...]  
  
[I don't know.]  
  
[Another time, maybe. Maybe when I figure out whether she feels the same way that I...]  
  
He watched her work for a long time, letting himself enjoy just being close to her. Watched the way she brushed her hair out of her eyes, watched the way her fingers moved over the keyboard, the way the computer screen shone a soft light over her body, outlining some areas and throwing others into shadow.  
  
Unconsciously, a smile formed on his face.  
  
[Fire...]  
  
* * * * *  
  
As she stepped through the gateway, she looked over the cavern that had been her home before she had arrived in Alec's timeline. It was still organized, and it looked the same as when she had left it, but had become very dusty.  
  
[Haven't touched this place in two years, remember?]  
  
She reached out to wipe the top of her computer, looking at the somewhat cleaner traces her hand left, then turned around to see Alec coming through the gateway, holding a cardboard box against his hip.  
  
"What's that?" She asked, taking a capsule out from her pocket. She had brought several of these compressors into Alec's world, and she needed to uncapsule them to organize everything.  
  
"Bulma's idea." Alec set it down, "I think it's dinner. Or at least supplies for dinner. She thinks that you're not capable of taking care of yourself." Ender shook her head, turned on the computer. The start-up screen appeared on the monitor.  
  
"What day is it here?"  
  
She pointed at the computer screen. May 11. One day before the androids were supposed to arrive, "Are you going to take the time machine to come here?" She said.  
  
"Yeah. One advantage about it, the people you left behind don't have much time for concern. You can return to close to the time you left. There's only a time gap of a few days at the most." He nodded at the gateway leading to his world, "I don't want my mother to worry while I'm gone."  
  
She nodded. The gateway was useful, but it had one flaw. Even while you were gone, time continued to pass in the place you left. So while she had been in Alec's world for two years, it meant that in the meantime, two years had passed here.  
  
[It must be nice to have someone who cares about you. Worries about you. Like Alec has his mother.]  
  
"Are you going to be all right here?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Ender..."  
  
"You'll see me tomorrow, remember?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
* * * * *  
  
She woke up with a start, eyes flickering open with the too-familiar nightmare that was beginning to haunt her again.  
  
[What will you do if, you know, one of the androids' the same person from three years ago?] She stared at the ceiling in the semi-darkness, suddenly feeling cold even though it was late spring already.   
  
[Doesn't matter. What are the chances?]  
  
[Gero's very careful about keeping his work safe. He would never let the androids run around like that without first making sure that he could control them. He's not an idiot.]  
  
She got up, let the two blades shoot out of her hands as she walked outside. Sleep wasn't going to come tonight. She might as well do something more productive than lying in bed. She positioned her hands and feet, and began the first warm-up exercises.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Nine o' clock in the morning. Piccolo shot through the air, Goku and Gohan only a few feet away from him.  
  
[May 12. I've been training for this morning day and night for three long years.]  
  
[If only I had known about this earlier. Then I could have trained longer, gotten stronger, gotten faster. Then I would have more chance of making it out of this alive.]  
  
[But Goku's right. I need to relax more. I'm at the peak of my abilities right now. I'm more powerful than I've ever been in my life. This is as prepared as I'm ever going to get.]  
  
[So why do I feel so nervous right now?]  
  
* * * * *  
  
She woke up in the branches of the tall oak towering in front of her cavern's entrance. One of the few things she liked about her residence: It was forty feet off the ground. That made it inaccessible to any human and it meant that there were plenty of tree boughs to sleep in if she ever got tired of the stuffiness of the cavern.  
  
She stood on the branch, keeping her balance, and descended, hovering a few feet above the ground. She looked up at the sky and closed her eyes, letting her ki rise up around her in golden waves.  
  
[It was time.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Be careful, okay, Trunks?" Bulma said, a little too quietly, as she watched her son climb up into the time machine. He turned a little, the concern in his face showing for a second, then grinned to assure her, flashed a thumbs-up, and sat down, pushing a few levers and buttons.  
  
To her, he would be returning in just a few hours, but she was still worried. Twenty years ago, she had thought Vegeta would come back to her, and twenty years ago, the androids had...  
  
On that day, a part of her had died as well when Gohan told her the news. When she found out there would be no body. When she knew that he was gone, forever, and he could never see those rare smiles, hear the teasing insults. That final realization left her empty. Drained.  
  
There were some bad days, even now. During the worst times, she'd reach out in the middle of the night, wanting to touch him, wanting to believe that he was there.   
  
He never was.  
  
The time machine rose in the air, whirring softly all the while. Trunks looked down at her through the glass windows, and grinned at her. She smiled back, hiding her anxiety for a while.  
  
[Trunks...please come back.]  
  
There was a blinding flash of light, then all that there was left was a hazy arc in the sky: the path that the time machine had taken. She stood there until the smoke in the air had cleared, until the sun had risen, and until she forced the memories away.  
  
She stood there for a long time.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Ender spotted most of the others on the cliffs surrounding the small city located on the island nine miles southeast of South City.  
  
[Just as Alec said...] She mused as she landed on the cliff face above all of them, and waited. Krillan and Gohan were making faces in front of the small child Bulma was holding, trying to amuse him.  
  
Chibi Alec. She shook her head, amused. While the older Alec tended to be moody and dark at times, the child seemed to be totally innocent as it laughed in his mother's arms.   
  
[Was I ever like that?] She brooded to herself, watching Chibi Alec, or should she say, Trunks, smiling angelically. [Was my life, at any point, ever so simple?]  
  
[I don't remember. But...]  
  
[I don't think so.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
Bulma wondered how she could have changed so much in three years. In the past, she had worn tighter, more low-cut clothes, meant to flaunt her body. But now, she was dressed more conservatively, no make-up, no earrings, giving off a sense of maturity.  
  
[Of course. I've fallen in love, I've had a child. Of course I'm different. It's to be expected.]  
  
She looked down at the child in her arms.  
  
[Was I shocked when I heard that I was going to have you? She smiled. Of course. Was I angry? At the beginning, yes.]  
  
[But am I willing to be your mother now?]  
  
[Absolutely.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
[Up, up, up.] Its instincts chanted, forcing Its limbs to fight free of the wires that were holding him, [Move, move, move.] The door above It opened as he ripped free of the last threads connecting It to this cocoon. There were still clamps at Its wrists and ankles, however.  
  
[Battle, fighting, kill.] The voice inside of Its head continued to mutter in a rising whisper, but it was replaced by another, more soothing tone. Its programming. [Remain still as the machine releases you. Stand. Open your eyes.]   
  
The first thing It saw was the old face of...of...  
  
[Master...] It bowed, showing Its respect for the man who had given him life. It could almost sense the other smile, and It straightened.  
  
[Blood, war, death.] It looked up at his creator, the one that made It sentient with only a few parts of machinery. His master was tall, thin, with a hat on to hide the surgery he had done to his own head. Almost as if the other man could sense the murderous desires within It, he nodded.  
  
[Goku...]  
  
* * * * *  
  
"So maybe the guy was wrong, huh? Maybe these 'androids' aren't going to show up!" Yamcha was yelling at Bulma once again. Ender shook her head. Some things never changed. Even after three years, even after Bulma had fallen in love with a different man, the two of them were still arguing.  
  
[Crazy...]  
  
"It's only a few minutes past ten," Bulma retorted, "Be a little more patient!" As if Trunks could sense his mother's mood, he began wailing. Ender found herself staring.  
  
[Was Alec ever like that?]  
  
Somehow, she couldn't imagine Alec crying.  
  
[Not the Alec she knew. Not the Alec who had laughed at her seriousness whenever she tried to explain something to him. Not the slightly unpredictable Alec who had been through more than most humans went through their whole lives. Not the Alec who would insist on helping her with the gateway, then drag her out to spar every night.]  
  
[Not the Alec whose eyes were as tired as her own.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
Ten-thirty, and even Bulma was beginning to become impatient, but she continued to stand there on the cliff, looking out towards the town.  
  
[I know that time traveling means breaking through the fabric of space and time, which means that sometimes, futures can be altered unintentionally. If that's what the stranger from the future did, that explains everything: Why the androids haven't arrived yet, why Goku hasn't had his heart disease yet...]  
  
* * * * *  
  
She watched as Yajirobe dropped off a small bag of senzu beans, watched him flatly refuse to fight with Goku, and then, watched him take off to the sky in that car of his.  
  
[Coward.]  
  
[Refuses to fight, even though he has the capability.]  
  
Then she shook her head at herself, for being so cynical.  
  
[Not everyone is born with the blood of warriors.]  
  
[So, does that mean that you're bloodthirsty?]  
  
[No, it means that if I'm not afraid of battle.]  
  
[It means that I'm not afraid to die, as long as I die fighting.]  
  
[It means that you're the coldest, most inhuman little thing that ever lived.]  
  
[...Yeah. Basically.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
As Yajirobe pulled the lever back and felt the air vehicle rise in the air in response, he sighed in relief. He was afraid that somehow, Goku would convince to fight alongside the others, and that he'd get killed somewhere along the line.  
  
[I should have known that Goku's not the kind of person to force someone to make a decision.]  
  
[Maybe I shouldn't have been so-]  
  
He stopped the vehicle, leaning out of one window, trying to ignore air between him and the ground two hundred feet beneath him. What were those two specks in the air? Birds? Birds would be moving, wouldn't they? Cars? There weren't that many flying cars around yet, but that could be it. Yeah. Cars.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Ender looked up, feeling the tickling sensations in the back of her mind that signaled there was someone, or something, nearby. She rose in the air and scanned the sky, careful not to disturb Goku and the others, who were standing on the ledge beneath her.  
  
After a few minutes, she found what she was looking for. Two dark points in the air, close to each other, barely visible, and a bigger one nearby. She flew closer to the dots and tried to reach out with her power, to see what they were.  
  
An explosion, filling the air with debris as her hair whipped back. She was buffeted by the incoming dust, being forced backwards by the wind for a second before she managed to stop herself.  
  
As the sky cleared, she searched the pale blue horizon for the three dots again. Except, now there were only two.  
  
Her power level climbed, and she let her dark hair whip around her face, the strands blowing back in the wind. The two dots disappeared, and it took a few minutes to see them again.  
  
[They're in the city...]  
  
[Damn, that'll make it harder.] Too many distractions in there. Too many people to get in the way.  
  
She changed direction, heading down, down, down, at an almost terrifying speed, hoping to at least catch a glimpse of where they were before they disappeared again.  
  
* * * * *  
  
He was feeling pretty damned good as he put his foot down hard on the gas pedal. A raise, a promotion, a car, a secretary, and a pretty damn sexy one too. The new boss really was too lenient. He was going to put on the speed today, and if the police caught him, screw the police.  
  
He was still putting on speed when he saw the two people standing in the middle of the air, dead ahead.  
  
[Oh, shit.]  
  
He put on the emergency brakes, struggling to stop the car before he hit them. The tires squealed noisily, leaving black marks all over the road. Just as he thought that they were all going to die, the car stopped, two inches from the taller one's knee.  
  
"Dammit!" He screamed, opening the window and leaning out, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"  
  
The tall one looked at him calmly. He cringed despite himself, inwardly wondering what he had gotten himself into. The tall one punched his windshield, his arm shattering the glass, his hand on his throat, clamping down hard.  
  
[Oh, _shit_!]  
  
* * * * *  
  
He could sense her arrival, hear the footsteps, almost see the face, but he ignored it, continuing to choke the man.  
  
"It's been a long time, Shiranai." He said, calmly, as the man at the end of his arm beginning to making gagging noises, "What name do you go by now?"  
  
She didn't flinch, although he could imagine the surprise going through her head, "Put him down."  
  
He obliged, dropping the man. He fell with an audible thump, "Congratulations," He smiled, "You've learned the art of iciness over the last three years."  
  
"Who the fuck are you?"  
  
He smiled. It startled her a little, the way the edges of his lips curved up, but the way his eyes still stayed so cold...  
  
[Just like Seventeen.]  
  
"Isn't it obvious?" He said, turning around to face her, waiting for a reaction.  
  
"...."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Author's Note: Please review, people. You have no idea how much it helps. 


	8. The Suspicion

Disclaimer: DBZ does not belong to me. I am not making any money off this, etc, therefore it would be completely pointless to sue me over this one little fanfic. Also, to answer a question I've been asked about twenty times, no, I had never, ever read Ender's Game before writing this story. Whatever similarities between this fanfic and OSC's writings are purely coincidental, believe it or not.  
  
Author's Note: Sorry it took me this long to get this chapter out. I'd written it a while ago, but I never got around to editing and posting it on ff.net, gomen nasai to all. Please review! It'll help me write more.  
  
Fire and Ice  
  
Chapter Eight, The Suspicion  
  
Goku, standing there, could easily sense the flare of power as Ender shot after the two androids, could easily see where she went in the city, but couldn't sense the most important thing of all- the androids' power levels.  
  
[Trunks did warn us that the androids didn't have any ki...] He thought, looking over the buildings. It was going to be one hell of a job locating the three of them. If she chose to, Ender could hide her power level so well that none of them could sense it.  
  
[Ender...you're making such a stupid mistake...]  
  
"Gohan!" He said, "I want you to find Yajirobe."  
  
"Dad," Gohan said, "The androids..."  
  
"We'll take care of them. Yajirobe needs help _now_."  
Gohan nodded, unwillingly, but he left. Good. He didn't want his son around, dealing with these... things.  
  
"The rest of you." Goku continued, "We need to head down into the city, and split up. If any of us finds the androids, raise your power level so that we can find you. And always keep a lookout for Ender's ki, understood?"  
One by one, they agreed and flew over the city, choosing different parts to land in. Goku shook his head, also landing on the ground lightly and giving a cursory glance over the streets around him.  
  
[C'mon Ender. Don't be a fool. You can't fight both of them without our help...]  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Gero." Ender said, finally connecting the familiar looking face before her to a name. The android in front of her nodded as she shook her head. He was famous, had been in several science and technology journals, not to mention all over the Internet. It was natural that she had seen him somewhere.   
  
She looked at him, "What kind of person makes himself into a robot?"  
  
"It's much better than you think." He said, still with that icy smile on his lips, "More strength without having to sacrifice speed. More stamina. Unlimited power. And, you're trapped eternally in your body. You'd stay sixteen forever. How about it?"  
  
"You're offering to change me into an android?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
He took a step toward her, and she stepped back, unwilling to let the distance between Gero and her shorten, then glanced behind her, looking for the other android. He was about twenty feet away from her, not moving.  
  
"Thanks for the offer, but no."  
  
"And why not?"  
  
Gero had the real power in this situation, since he could probably stage an attack on her, but she was quick, she was fast, she'd be able to get away before the fight started and find Goku.  
  
"How do you know me?" She said, changing the topic as she reached out with her   
ki to see whether the other android still had moved. It hadn't.  
  
"I don't. At least, I've never met you, but..." He said, watching her face, waiting for some emotion to rise despite the coldness surrounding her. He saw none. "You're an attractive little thing, aren't you? Maybe that's why he chose you out of all those other girls he could've had."  
  
Her whole body went cold for a second, and she hissed, jamming her hands into her pockets so that he wouldn't see that they were shaking. With anger? With fear? "So...you're his..." She didn't understand the feelings running through her head. It had been so long since she'd lost control of her mind like this.  
  
"Yes."  
  
She turned a little to the side, so that he couldn't see the look on her face.  
  
"Though I must admit, those videos I extracted were very entertaining."  
  
He could sense the snap, the ki shooting sky high before she got some control over the rage inside of her. She rose in the air, letting energy waves rise up around her, her power level rising until even the humans in the buildings around her could almost taste that raw energy, crackling in the air.   
  
"You're scared." Gero said, mimicking the voice that still had the power to hurt her, even after so long.  
  
For a second, she couldn't think. She wanted to abandon everything and just attack, just tear that little bastard into...  
  
Then she shot up and away, ignoring Goku's friends, whose ki were coming closer and closer, ignoring Gero's laugh, only hearing his whisper in her mind, of the man who had betrayed her so many years ago, the memory of his face and smile unsoftened by the tides of time.  
  
[Dammit.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
[She must have made a mistake,] Yamcha thought, as he flew over to where he had last sensed Ender's ki, [I don't see them anywhere.] He was expecting something metallic, something gleaming silver and copper under the sun.  
  
The only people standing there were two men, one of them tall and thin, his face withered and gaunt, and the other short and heavy, with the palest skin imaginable, a stark porcelain white. They were dressed oddly, but, then again, he had met all kind of weirdoes.  
  
Yamcha looked at them again, and shivered, realizing that both their eyes were blue. Ice blue. They were the coldest pair of eyes he had ever seen.  
  
[Well, almost the coldest.] He shook his head, remembering slanted pale blue-green eyes that had never shown any emotion, never warmed in a smile. The eyes of a beautiful woman, but one that was not only unattainable, but untouchable.  
  
He continued to scan the streets, looking for any signs of the androids. After a few more minutes, he gave up, conceding that even icy, inhuman Ender was capable of blundering.  
  
Turning around to leave, he came face to face with ice blue eyes, set in a thin, sunken face.  
  
[When did they come up behind me?] Yamcha took a step back, eyes widening in surprise, [Why didn't I sense them?]  
  
Then, the realization. [Oh, damn.]  
  
A long arm snaked up, fast, faster than any normal human could possibly be, especially one as old as this. It curled around his jaw and throat, the bony fingers lifting him off the ground with impossible strength.  
  
[Dammit!] He cursed at himself, struggling to get free. [Yamcha, you idiot! You made a stupid mistake, and you're going to die for it now.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
It was almost surprising how easy it had been to catch the one who called himself Yamcha off guard. The baka was still fighting, still kicking out with his feet, trying to hurt him enough to let him go. Gero squeezed with the hand holding him up, and felt the man cry out, once, in pain.  
  
[Fool. If he just raised his power level, he'd be able to get help faster.] Gero shrugged to himself. He had given up on humans a long time ago. Instead, he ordered the absorber's mechanisms in his hands to open up.   
  
[Well, too late for him now.] Gero almost smiled, feeling the power draining from Yamcha and into his being, the strands of energy combining within him, twisting together to make himself stronger.  
  
As soon as he was sure that there was no more power to be tapped, he placed one hand against the other man's stomach, watching the man's look of helpless fury, but most of all, reveling in the fear in Yamcha's eyes.  
  
[I'm going to enjoy this.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
[Oh God!]  
  
He cried out as the android punched through his abdomen, feeling its hand ripping through his torso. It took a while for him to realize that blood, his blood, was dripping down from his stomach to his feet and down onto the ground. His eyes widened in pain as the android removed his arm, making sure to drag fingers along the edges of broken skin.  
  
Everything seemed to focus and blur out at the same time. He tried to keep his eyes open, but a blackness was overcoming all of his senses, shrouding his mind completely.  
  
[Let me sleep, oh God, I just want to go to sleep...]  
  
* * * * *  
  
He was going to be late with his shipment. Then the manager of the gas station was going to be angry with him and report him to his boss, then his boss would be angry with him, then he would be fired. So far he'd been lucky, but this time...  
  
[How am I supposed to explain?] He wondered to himself, taking a right at breakneck speed. [How am I supposed to tell an old scrooge like Tyson that since my wife died, I have to take care of two toddlers on my own? How am I supposed to say that I can't always make it on time with both the kids and the deliveries?]  
  
Preoccupied with his own thoughts, he didn't notice the men standing in the middle of the road until it was almost too late.  
  
[Damn!]  
  
He slammed on the brakes, and, not thinking, swerved to the right, hard. The tires protested as they slanted, then they fell, turning the trunk on the side and ramming into the gas station.   
  
He took his hands off the steering wheel and stopped for a moment, hands shaking. Was he okay? Yeah. Head was scratched up, though. That was all right. It could've been worse. It could've been much worse.  
  
He only had a few moments of peace before he realized that the collision had certainly started some spark or the other, and that would mean...   
  
...that the huge tank of gas at the back of the truck, not to mention the containers in the station...  
  
"Dammit!" He screamed, undoing his safety belt and jumping out of the car, "Dammit!"  
  
* * * * *  
  
He had felt the rise of someone's ki, maybe Ender's, but he wasn't sure. It was too sudden, and he was too far away. He would have liked to go and check it out, but he couldn't leave until he had found Yajirobe....  
  
Gohan sighed to himself, continuing the scan the wreck in the water, searching for a flicker of orange- the color of Yajirobe's clothes.  
  
A huge smoke cloud rose in the air, clouding the distant sky. He looked up, every nerve in his body suddenly alert, reaching out for that area.  
  
[Yamcha...]  
  
The other man's ki was dangerously faint, fading even as he stood there. Gohan hissed to himself in frustration and forced himself to continue to search for Yajirobe in the wreck left in the sea.  
  
[What's going on?]  
  
* * * * *  
  
[His friends must have arrived...] Gero realized, feeling several other ki levels surrounding him. [No matter. They won't make a move as long as I still have the power to hurt Yamcha.]  
  
He glanced at the man in disgust. [Not that his life is much to bargain with.] Yamcha was very near death. A few more minutes of bleeding, then he would be gone.  
  
He turned a little, to face them, looking over their faces. Tien, Piccolo, Krillan, and, of course, the leader of them all. Goku.  
  
"Let him go." Goku said.  
  
In all of their faces, there was no flicker of recognition.  
  
[They don't know who I am.]  
  
"Your fight should be with me, not Yamcha."  
  
A rise of simulated curiosity almost made a smile flicker on his face. Almost. [How do they know of my programming to destroy Goku?]  
  
"I'm surprised that you knew that I was going to be here." Gero said mildly, "I'm not quite sure how you managed to do that."  
  
Goku had the sense to remain silent.  
  
"Actually..." Gero continued, "You didn't find me. Shiranai did. Then she raised her power level before she ran off."  
  
"Shiranai?" Tien said, "Does he mean..."  
  
"Ender?"  
  
* * * * *  
  
Gero smiled to himself, but didn't let it show on his face. Then he flung Yamcha to the ground, face down in front of them, watching for the rise and fall of the man's chest. There was none.  
  
For a while, all of them stood there. Goku was the first to react.  
  
He was saying something, ordering Krillan to pick up Yamcha and to take him to a safer place, and something else, in a quieter tone of voice.  
  
[Fools. He's dead.]  
  
But no, Yamcha groaned a little as Krillan swung him over his back, and flew off in the air. Gero watched them leave, feeling unreasonably annoyed. But he shook his head at himself mentally and made himself turn back to more important matters.  
  
Goku.  
  
* * * * *  
  
There was nothing more that any of them could do about Yamcha. They would just stay there, and hope that Krillan would be able to reach somewhere safe in time to give Yamcha a senzu bean.   
  
So now, like the others, he turned to their next concern.  
  
"Where's Ender?" Goku said.  
  
The android before him almost smiled. What number was it ... Twenty? "Is that what she goes by now?"  
  
[That's right. It called her Shiranai, didn't it?]  
  
"She flew off. I think I offended her."  
  
Goku recalled the huge blast of energy before the explosion of the gas station that had first led him to realize where the androids were. If that was Ender, then she must have been a helluva lot more than just 'offended'...  
  
He got into a fighting stance along with Piccolo and Tien, watching the androids approach him, but his mind was on the spectators reckless enough to stay and watch the show. There were already a few scattered crowds beginning to gather some distance away from them.  
  
"We have to draw them away from here," He concluded to the others, "Too many people can get hurt here..."  
  
* * * * *  
  
[So now they're worried about people 'getting hurt', are they...] Gero smiled inwardly as he continued to listen into the conversation, still careful to keep his face blank and expressionless, [Just wait, all of you. Just wait...]  
  
"Yes." He found himself saying, acting on impulse for the first time in his life. Why not? What could someone like Goku possibly do to an android like him? "There are far too many spectators here. They could get in our way."  
  
* * * * *  
  
[Oh Christ. He wouldn't.]  
  
"I will make sure that they do not." Its eyes were changing, beginning to glow.  
  
[He would.]  
  
The first lasers fired from Gero's eyes demolished what was left of the gas station. After a few more well aimed beams, almost all the buildings around them were either falling or burning as golden flames flickered up, darting hungrily from building to building.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Gohan lifted Yajirobe out of the water, ignoring the other man's sputters and coughs as he tried to concentrate. Even from here, he could see how the city seemed to be collapsing upon itself, the larger buildings knocking down the smaller ones.  
  
He frowned. He could sense the energy blasts that were destroying the city, but he couldn't sense who was giving off those energy blasts. Maybe the androids couldn't be detected? That would make sense...  
  
* * * * *  
  
Goku gave a cry of rage and launched himself at Gero.  
  
[Fool.]  
  
He was ready. Waiting for it. Anticipating it, even, as the Saiyan's fist connected solidly. A blow like that would have stunned any of the Z fighters, knocked a human out.  
  
[But I'm not human, am I?]  
  
[Or at least, not anymore.]  
  
He could feel himself being knocked aside, and immediately, the enhanced nerves in his body forced one foot to move instinctively, to keep his balance. His hat, however, fell, and rolled along the pavement beside his feet. As Gero straightened to face Goku, he could feel the numbness on the side of his face. The punch had been harder than he had expected. But still, already the feeling was coming back as the mechanisms within him repaired what little damage was done to his cheek.  
  
[He's going to be tougher than I thought...but he doesn't matter. He's still only Saiyan. Still flesh and bone.]  
  
[Still beatable.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
[He's barely even moved.]  
  
That was the first thought that flashed into Goku's mind as soon as the initial rush from the anger had subsided. What it was replaced by was something remarkably like awe.  
  
And fear.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Bulma sighed in relief as she watched Yamcha begin to breathe again, the huge gap in his abdomen beginning to heal. She had been expecting the worst. The senzu bean's healing properties were stronger than she thought.  
  
Krillan and Gohan were talking about something. Something about the androids.  
  
"Wait a second. You mean the _androids_ did this to him?"  
  
Yamcha opened his mouth to reply.  
  
An explosion, far away but still intimidating, and louder than the ones that had been echoing off the mountain walls all morning long. She whirled around to look, still holding Trunks protectively as she looked out toward the city below. Or rather, what was left of the city. Most of it was just a smoldering pile of ruin.  
  
Yamcha shook his head, "I have no idea how we're ever going to stop them. I hope-" He stopped, because he knew everyone else was thinking the same thing.  
  
[I hope Goku does.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Monster." Goku said. Almost immediately, he regretted his words. Acting like a little kid wasn't going to help the situation.  
  
Sure enough, Twenty was already saying some retort. Something along the lines of following Goku's wishes and clearing the area. The little bastard was smiling!  
  
[I'll get them for this...]  
  
* * * * *  
  
Ender had been flying for a while when she felt the explosion at the very edge of her power. Instantly, the cold, mindless anger faded as she looked up at the sun. How much time had passed? Not much. Had Gero already destroyed...  
She reached out as far as she could, and found that she could no longer sense the millions of small kis that belonged to the humans living the South City.  
  
[So he's done it.]  
  
[No, not he. It. It's done it. It's probably blown up the whole city by now.]  
  
[Should I head back?]  
  
[No. I'm sure that Goku would think up something to hold the two androids off. He's a fighter. He knows how to handle an enemy or two.]  
  
[So I'm basically useless now. There's nothing I can do to help.]  
  
[Yes there is. I can go back through the gateway to Alec's time and see what the hell is going on there. We had agreed to meet in South City much earlier. Why hasn't he arrived? Of all the times for him to be late...]  
  
[Relax. He and Bulma are probably having some last minute trouble with the time machine or something, and he did tell you he didn't want to go through the gateway. Just relax. They're fine. He's fine.]  
  
[All right then. Forget Alec. He's not a child. He's capable of taking care of himself. I have to know what's happening with Goku and the others.]  
  
She checked the sun again, out of habit, although some sensible part of her mind told her that the exchange in her mind had taken only a few seconds, then turned around and started to head back.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Leave them out of this." Goku was talking about the people living in South City, "They're perfectly innocent." He was trying to keep the anger from showing in his voice. It wasn't working.   
  
"Well, then." Twenty said, in that distant way of its, "You may lead us to a different place."  
  
Goku was about to say something, before he decided against it. What could he do? Bargain? Make some kind of foolish retort that would result in more retaliation?  
  
There were police sirens in the distance. Goku winced at the sound of them, winced at the human eagerness to be "where the action was" they symbolized. So many years protecting this species. So much he still didn't understand about them. Didn't they ever realize that this sort of danger required power that was beyond them?   
  
[Let's not be here when they arrive.]  
  
Goku powered up grimly.  
  
[Well then, time to go.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
Gohan saw them rising in the air, so far away that they were only beams of light. Three power levels. The strongest one was unmistakable; his father. He would have liked to follow, to soar up after them, but he knew that he couldn't.  
He'd be useless there; just another person to worry about.   
  
"Your father's leading them off." Krillan said. Of course. Everyone could see that. They didn't need Krillan to point it out, but he had to say something to fill the tense silence.  
  
"Yes." Gohan finally said.  
  
"He's going to fight them soon."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"No!"  
  
Gohan turned around to look at Yamcha.  
  
Yamcha stood up, "Don't you get it? The androids can drain the energy of anyone they touch! That's why I didn't have the power to heal myself after one of them-"  
  
"And my father doesn't know that." Gohan interjected, already beginning to hover, "Let's go!" Yamcha didn't move.  
  
"Yamcha?"  
  
"I don't think that I should..." He swallowed, hard, remembering searing pain when the android had punched through his stomach, "You know, go with you guys..."  
  
"Yamcha," Krillan started, "You-"  
  
"Forget it." Gohan cut him off, "Look, we don't mind if you don't come. We won't hold it against you, okay?"  
  
"Yeah. Sure."  
  
"In the meantime, my dad's getting out of range. C'mon Krillan. Let's go."  
  
* * * * *  
  
Ender surveyed the wreckage, knowing that she should leave, that with every second, Goku's ki was getting fainter and fainter, and soon she wouldn't be able to find him altogether. But still, she continued to stand there, eyes glued onto the debris before her, like a child who's watching a horror movie and wants to look away, but can't.  
  
[Would this still have happened if I hadn't lost my temper and flew off?]  
  
[Probably. From what I know about Gero, he's a flashy person. Loves to show off. That's why, during his career, he kept on doing demonstration after demonstration for expectant audiences. Even now, he would have wanted to display his powers. He wouldn't mind destroying an entire city to do that.]  
  
[Is this how I'm trying to rationalize my stupidity to myself?]  
  
[He killed off so many people. And I was indirectly responsible for that. If I hadn't run away. If I had waited to see how Goku would handle the situation. If I had at least challenged him and led him off, then this city would still be standing.]  
  
Closing her eyes, she turned her back on the scene, firmly, and pushed off into the air, taking long, deep breaths to soothe the ugly anger in her mind, the involuntary tenseness of her body.  
  
[I really am an idiot.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
[Coward.] Yamcha found himself thinking. [You're just another worthless coward. ]  
  
[Gohan places himself in life-threatening positions all the time for the sake of his father. Why can't you do the same for one of your closest friends?]  
  
[That's easy for him. He never got punched through by an android.]  
  
[No, but Krillan got killed by Frieza, didn't he? Vegeta was murdered by Frieza, wasn't he? Yet, they both went to face Frieza again when he appeared on earth. You didn't see them cowering, did you? And now Krillan is going to stand by Goku, while you're here hiding.]  
  
[I'm not hiding.]  
  
[Then what do you call this?]  
  
[This is different.]  
  
[No it's not.]  
  
"Hey!" Yamcha shouted. The others stopped and waited expectantly, "Wait up for me!"  
  
* * * * *  
  
Goku wasn't really leading them anywhere in particular. He was going due south, because he knew that they were a few abandoned islands where he had trained before, but other than that, he had no idea what to do. He was just stalling.  
  
[Okay...What do I know?]  
  
[Twenty obviously knows Ender. And from the flare of her ki before she ran off, she was extremely upset when she left, probably over something that it said to her.]  
  
[That doesn't help much. Just leaves more questions to be answered.]  
  
[Why did she change her name from Shiranai to Ender? What did the android say to her that got her so mad? How does she know an android?]  
  
[More precisely, how does she know this android? Do the others have any idea what this means? This means that she's somehow connected to the creator of the androids, Gero, or somehow met the android without either destroying it or telling the rest of us.]  
  
[Who knows? Maybe she even helped Gero create the androids.]  
  
[No. I doubt that. Ender's cold, Ender's detached, but I doubt that even Ender would do something that could possibly destroy civilization as we know it.]  
  
[But how do I know that? I barely know the girl. I met her for about twenty minutes three years ago, and I'm already assuming that she's one of the good guys.]  
  
Goku glanced back at the androids following him.  
  
[So odd... They look so _human_ , and yet... The way they talk, they way they move...]  
  
[Stop thinking. You're just making yourself worry. Right now, I have to lead those two...things...to someplace else, where they can't do any more damage. When Ender shows up, that's when everything will start to make a little more sense. That's when we'll know whether she's with us or with them. If she's with us, good. If she's with them...the rest of us will figure something out.]  
  
[Ender, Shiranai, whoever you are, where are you?]  
  
* * * * *  
  
Gero was getting impatient.  
  
Goku had been flying for almost half an hour, and he didn't show any sign of slacking. They were never going to start the battle at the rate that they were going.  
  
[So I'll start it for him.]  
  
"This is far enough." He said, and began to lower himself onto the ground.  
Unlike other fights with other enemies, there would be only a few exchange of words, little before-battle bantering, and virtually no trying to intimidate the opponent. Goku didn't try because he knew there'd be no point; Gero was an android, for chrissakes, and Gero didn't try because he knew he wasn't going to fight.  
  
Nineteen was.  
  
Gero wasn't stupid. He wasn't about to attack an opponent he knew almost nothing about. Although his little detectors had been hanging around Goku for years, they hadn't been around when Goku traveled to the Namek planet. Who knows? Maybe Goku had learned something from the people there. Maybe he had acquired some new skill that could only been learned on that planet. So although Gero was sure of his own abilities, he wanted Nineteen to fight Goku first, just to be sure. And if Goku was only as strong as he had anticipated, then he would call Nineteen off and kill Goku himself.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Ender flew, hiding her power level as well as she could at the speed that she was going, but she knew that Goku and the others wouldn't notice. They were too preoccupied with the battle that was about to take place. Anyway, she was still too far away from them to see her, so they wouldn't be trying to sense her, since they wouldn't even know she was there.  
  
[Gero...]  
  
[Nothing's making sense.]  
  
[Alec said that the first thing the androids did when they were released was to kill Gero. But Gero is number Twenty. Gero is an android. ]  
  
[But how can I be so sure about this? Everything I know is from Alec, and he didn't really elaborate, did he? Maybe the androids really did kill Gero, and Twenty is simply an android designed to be like Gero in every way, even to believe that he really is Gero.]  
  
[But why would Gero go through that much trouble to program Twenty to look like him, talk like him, and even act like him? That sort of complexity is almost impossible to program into a mechanical being. No, Twenty is Gero, I'm sure of that.]  
  
She slowed down a little and began to descend.   
  
[Something must have happened. Maybe Alec's time machine changed history more than we anticipated, maybe my gateway altered something by accident, but whatever it is, things are not happening as they should.]  
  
* * * * *  
  
Nobody said anything when Ender landed near them. There was no need. The look on her face was closed, meaning that she wouldn't tell them anything, so there was no point asking.  
  
Cold as ice. 


End file.
